


Just Another Case, Right?

by Cry3TearsLikeJ3T



Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, F/M, FOB, M/M, My Chem, The main people are basically Panic!, and TOP further into it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-06-27 20:05:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 56,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15692463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cry3TearsLikeJ3T/pseuds/Cry3TearsLikeJ3T
Summary: Brendon Urie is a detective in a hidden city that is filled with creatures and people with extraordinary abilities and he's the only regular human there but that was never a problem. It was always just him, his boyfriend Ryan and his closest friends, Jon Walker and Spencer Smith solving the unsolvable until somebody comes to them with what they believe to be a simple missing persons case, but is so much bigger than that.It's up to Brendon and his group to find the truth and save the world from disaster as the case unravels into something that threatens the lives of many. There will be romance, humor and there will be action and it will take the boys to the edge because if they can't do it, who can?(There is death in this fic but it all works out in the end I swear in case that fact puts you off, also it is kind of violent but it's not super graphic, it's basically  just statements and no graphic descriptions of the injuries and stuff which is why I didn't tag it)





	1. Just Another Case

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first full length fic I've uploaded in an age and is also the longest I've ever written because it is finished but I'll be uploading a chapter or 2 everyday so I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Brendon sighed as he sat back in his seat inside the same bar that he visited so often, it was practically his second home.

“What’s wrong now?” Ryan asked, putting his head in his hands as he leant across the table between them.

“Why does something have to be wrong? Maybe I’m just sighing for no reason,” Brendon responded but he knew that Ryan could see the truth.

“Brendon, I’ve known you for ten years and I’ve been dating you for two of them, so I think I know when you’re lying.”

“And you can see when somebody’s lying anyway.”

“That too.”

Ryan Ross wasn’t any ordinary guy, he had this special sight that allowed him to see many things that humans could not, and of those things was the truth. In fact, Ryan wasn’t the only extraordinary person out there. There was a city that was unknown to the ordinary and the things that were in it were truly a sight to see and Brendon was the only ordinary man to live there. 

Brendon Urie was a detective and a very good one at that. He worked with three others, including Ryan, and together they had solved many cases and saved many lives. There was never a dull day for Brendon… except for this one.

“Well, I guess I’m just bored, there hasn’t been a case for like a month,” Brendon explained even though Ryan would already know this.

“I’m sure one will turn up eventually, in fact, I bet something will turn up sooner than you think,” Ryan reassured but Brendon just rolled his eyes, picking up his glass.

“You’re talking as if somebody is just gonna waltz up any second and tell me that-” Brendon was then cut off by a figure speaking.

“Brendon Urie?” They asked, and this caused Brendon to jump and drop the glass, his drink spilling across the table.

“You’re cleaning that up!” Brendon heard the bartender, Frank, yell from across the room.

Brendon just sighed before looking up at the figure. This person was a man, that was probably older than Brendon by a few years, that had short dark hair and wore a purple hoodie with a black mesh jumper over the top and wore black jeans. He was also quite dark skinned that matched his brown eyes.

“Yes?” Brendon said, raising an eyebrow at the stranger.

“I’m Pete Wentz and I need your help finding somebody,” Pete explained, and Brendon glanced at Ryan, did he know that this would happen?

“Well Pete, you came to the right guys, my partners and I would be glad to help you out,” Brendon said with a smile.

“Great, would you mind coming with me then? My friends want to talk to you as well,” Pete said, and Brendon and Ryan simply nodded before standing up.

“Thanks for the drinks Frank!” Brendon called to the small man behind bar.

“You can thank me once you’ve cleaned that up,” Frank said with a look that meant business.

“I would but I’ve gotta solve a case so maybe next time,” Brendon said with a grin.

“You’re an asshole Brendon, you know that right?”

“You are never gonna find love with that attitude my friend,” Brendon said as he brought his glass to bar.

“I’ve already tried love Brendon, not worth the pain,” Frank said, and Brendon wanted to ask more but decided that he should probably get going, it wasn’t his business.

“Fair enough, now I must be going, have fun cleaning,” Brendon said before walking towards the exit, Ryan by his side and Pete leading the way.

“Piss off,” Brendon heard Frank mutter before they were out the door.

The city was covered in a thick sheet of snow and there was still more falling gently from the night sky. It was late out, and Brendon had always loved the city at night as much as he adored the day.

“He’s not the nicest guy, is he?” Pete asked as they made their way down the street.

“Frank? Nah, he’s a sweet guy deep down, just a little lonely I’m sure,” Brendon explained as he put his hands in his coat pockets, it was definitely a winter night.

“What is he?” Pete questioned, and this was a normal thing to ask in this city, it was heard so often it was practically common courtesy nowadays. You never knew what creature you’d find in the city.

“He’s undead as far as I’m aware, shot dead in his own apartment and when he came back, he wasn’t the same, couldn’t feel a goddamn thing and still can’t.”

“Not a thing? Can’t feel the cold or anything?” Pete asked, clearly finding it hard to believe.

“Nope, not even emotions, he just feels grouchy all the time.”

“Man, that sounds awful,” Pete said, and Brendon just nodded.

Brendon and Ryan had met Frank two years ago when Frank was new to town and barely started up his bar and Brendon liked the atmosphere that his place held and, so they became friends in Brendon’s eyes.

“So, where’re we heading?” Brendon asked after a moment of silence.

“Just down here and into the apartment building, my friends and I share an apartment together,” Pete explained, pointing ahead.

“Great,” Brendon said before pulling his phone out and sending a text to the other guys, telling them to get to the building as soon as they could and to ask for the apartment with Pete Wentz in it.

The three then trudged through the snow until they reached the apartment building and entered it. Pete then led them to the elevator before entering it and hitting the button for the fifth floor. Brendon liked the building so far, there had been a nice Christmas tree by the front desk and there were a few lights hung up and it just felt friendly. 

Once they reached their floor, the doors opened, and they then made their way down the corridor until Pete stopped in front of apartment 34.

“Alright, here we are,” Pete said before opening the door and gesturing for Brendon and Ryan to enter and following behind.

“Guys!” Pete called out as kicked off his shoes at the door.

Brendon heard footsteps before two men came around the corner from presumably the kitchen. They didn’t appear to be too intimidating, one was slightly shorter than Brendon and had short brown hair and seemed to be in the process of growing a beard, he wasn’t wearing a shirt which exposed the many tattoos on his chest and arms. The other was slightly taller and darker skinned and had darker short hair, wore black jeans, a dark shirt and a black denim jacket. 

“Hey Pete,” The taller greeted before casting a glance at Brendon and Ryan.  
“Hey Joe, I found the guys that can help us…well half of them anyway,” Pete said, gesturing to Brendon and Ryan.

“Joe Trohman, nice to meet you,” Joe introduced himself, holding a hand out and Brendon shook it before Ryan did the same.

“I’m Andy Hurley, thanks for helping us out, it means a lot,” Andy said, offering his hand out as well and Brendon and Ryan took their turn in shaking it.

“The other half should be here any minute,” Brendon explained, checking the response on his phone.

“Great, well while we wait, you wanna sit down?” Pete offered, and Brendon was not opposed to that, the sofa looked really comfy.

So, Brendon and Ryan sat together while Pete and his friends spoke quietly amongst themselves.

“Where do you think they are?” Brendon asked but he noticed that Ryan seemed to be deep in thought and wasn’t listening.

Ryan was a peculiar man to be around, you had to know his habits before you got close to him because some of them didn’t really make sense and fortunately for Brendon, he knew all of Ryan’s habits. Once Ryan was in thought, it took a lot to bring him back.  
Brendon just smiled at him, taking in his appearance. It was always fun seeing what Ryan would look like every morning because he dressed in a way that wasn’t considered ‘normal’. Today he was wearing black trousers, a white Victorian blouse, his unique rose vest and his face was decorated with a single purple streak across his eyes and what seemed to be birds underneath on the left of his face. He truly was beautiful.

There was then a knock at the door and this seemed to make Ryan jump, he was clearly coming back, and Brendon laughed slightly before turning to see Pete opening the door. Standing in the doorway was the other half of Brendon’s little group, Jon Walker and Spencer Smith. They looked grateful to be inside as Pete let them in and everybody introduced themselves.

“Hey guys,” Brendon greeted, waving at the two men as they came and sat beside himself and Ryan.

Jon Walker was a man that was two years older than Brendon and was a pretty calm and kind guy. Just what he was, was unknown to Brendon because he said it wasn’t very interesting and just wouldn’t say no matter how much Brendon asked. He had short brown hair and had stubble, he was wearing only a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and a hoodie for some reason.

Spencer Smith on the other hand was the same age as Brendon and seemed to have a way with plants but wasn’t a sorcerer apparently. He also had short brown hair but his was of a lighter colour. He wore a pair of jeans, a black shirt and a coat and was clearly much more prepared for the weather than Jon was. Spencer was generally the one with the common sense out of the group but was a pretty funny guy as well.

“Alright, let’s get down to business,” Brendon said as Pete, Andy and Joe sat on either side of them on the armchairs placed beside the sofa, Andy having to sit on the arm of one.

“Ok, so if you guys don’t mind, could you tell us what exactly each of you are? It’s procedure so don’t think this means we’re accusing you of anything,” Brendon asked.

“I’m a sorcerer, I specialise in the elements,” Pete replied.

“I can control metal, not very interesting,” Joe said casually, crossing his arms.

“I’m part werewolf, my father was human, so I don’t really look it,” Andy explained, and Brendon nodded.

“So Pete, you said you needed our help finding somebody?” Brendon asked, and he noticed Ryan had pulled out his notepad and pen.

“That is correct,” Pete said with a nod.

“What’s this person’s name?” Brendon questioned.

“Patrick Stump.”

“What is he?”

“He’s a sorcerer like me.”

“Can you give us a description of him?” Spencer asked, and Brendon watched Andy nod before speaking.

“He’s about five foot five, dirty blonde hair and has blue eyes,” Andy explained.

“Now when did you last see or have contact with Mr Stump?” Ryan asked.

“We saw him two weeks ago when he left to go buy something for Pete, it was a Christmas gift I think,” Joe replied, and Brendon looked at Ryan to see if anything was off, you never knew who to suspect in these cases, but Ryan seemed to believe it.

“Where exactly was he heading?” Brendon questioned, leaning forward.

“He didn’t give us the name but here’s the address, he wrote it down in case he forgot but ended up leaving it here,” Joe said, handing Brendon a piece of paper from his jacket pocket.

“Have you contacted the authorities at all?” Jon asked, and Pete nodded.

“They said they’d try their best but I’m pretty sure they gave up,” Pete explained.

“What was he wearing last?” Brendon questioned.

“He was wearing black skinny jeans, a grey t-shirt, black leather jacket, his fedora and his glasses,” Pete said as Brendon built up a mental image.

“Is there anybody that would want to harm Mr Stump in any way?” Spencer asked.

“Not really, Patrick is a pretty nice guy most of the time, so I can’t think of anybody we know,” Andy replied.

“Alright then, I think that’s all we need for now, we’ll contact you once we know more,” Brendon said as he stood up, the others copying.

“Thank you so much, you have no idea how much he means to us,” Pete thanked, but Brendon just shook his head.

“Just doing our job Pete, we’re happy to help.”

The group then left the apartment and began to make their way back out the building.

“What do you guys think of this one?” Brendon asked as they entered the elevator and he pressed the button.

“Seems interesting, especially if those guys really don’t have an idea what happened,” Spencer replied, and Jon nodded in agreement beside him.

“Looks like we’re in for a good one,” Brendon said with a smile as the elevator doors opened.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guys follow up their first lead and find everything isn't as it seems.

Brendon awoke to the sound of his alarm clock blaring beside him on his bedside table. He groaned before rolling over and hitting it until turned itself off. He very slowly rose up and looked around the bedroom and then beside him, realising that Ryan wasn’t there.   
He then got out of bed, the cold air hitting his bare chest and legs. Brendon liked sleeping in his underwear, he found it much more comfortable, but it wasn’t very practical for winter.

Brendon then trudged out the bedroom and into the kitchen in the apartment. He found Ryan sitting on the counter in his pajamas, he looked exactly like Brendon, dead. Neither were morning people.

“Morning,” Brendon managed to get out before yawning, but Ryan didn’t seem to even register this.

“I think somebody needs coffee,” Brendon said before walking across the kitchen floor to the coffee and began to make the two some, grabbing two mugs from the cupboard above him.

Once the two had sat down on the couch in the living room with their coffee, Brendon looked at Ryan and realized something.

“You haven’t slept at all, have you?” Brendon asked, and Ryan only shook his head.

“I saw him again, he’s still in pain,” Ryan said blankly after Brendon was silent.

The only terrible thing about being able to see everything was that you often saw too much. Ryan had recently been seeing a man that seemed to be enduring incredible amounts of pain and torture and it kept Ryan awake on many occasions. 

“Are you sure you don’t recognize him or where he is?” Brendon questioned.

“I’ve tried to figure it out, but I have no idea where he is and it’s so blurry, I can’t even make out a face but he’s still alive I know that much,” Ryan replied before taking a sip of his coffee.

“God, I just wish we could help him, whoever’s got him is sick,” Brendon said, but decided to drop it after seeing Ryan’s blank face, he clearly wasn’t in the mood to talk.

The two sat in silence after that, Brendon placing his free arm over Ryan and just hoping he could comfort him enough. Brendon couldn’t imagine what it was like to see something so horrific constantly, he was just an ordinary guy after all.

Eventually the two showered and got dressed before heading out to start their investigation with Jon and Spencer.

*  
The sun was shining that morning, but the snow was still laid on thick and it looked quite beautiful. The only thing ruining the scene was the run-down building standing in front of Brendon and the guys.  
The group had decided to follow up the address considering it was the only real piece of evidence to go and it led them to an old building that sat alone at the very edge of the city.

“What the hell was Patrick Stump doing here?” Brendon questioned quietly, running a hand through his combed back hair.

“Maybe it looks really cool inside like in those movies,” Jon said, and Brendon really wanted to believe that, but it didn’t look promising.

“Maybe.”

“Are we just gonna stand around all day or are we gonna go inside?” Ryan asked as he made his way towards to building’s front door.

Ryan was dressed less elegantly than the day before, he was wearing a pair of brown trousers, a very detailed flower print button up shirt and light brown waist coat. He seemed to have jumped right out of The Beatles.

“Right,” Brendon said, following closely behind with Jon and Spencer behind himself.

The building only had two floors and seemed to be a makeshift house. It was practically bare apart from the essentials in every room. It seemed to be incredibly old and somebody had clearly left it to rot as it had done so very well.

“I’m gonna take a guess an assume that Patrick Stump wasn’t here to do a little Christmas shopping?” Jon asked as he looked around the living room.

“Yeah, there’s definitely something deeper going on here,” Brendon replied.

“But there’s nothing here, no wonder the cops gave up so quickly,” Spencer stated, and Brendon just furrowed his eyebrows.

“No, there’s gotta be something that we’re missing…can you see anything Ryan?” Brendon asked, hoping that Ryan’s special sight could see something that he couldn’t.

“Nothing weird standing out, either it’s really just an abandoned home or somebody’s cloaked this place,” Ryan responded, putting his hands in his trouser pockets.

“Cloaked it?” Brendon questioned, not entirely sure of the meaning of that.

“There’s some sorcerers out there that can cloak places and hide certain things from us, so we should see if Pete can help out, he might be able to sense something that I can’t,” Ryan explained.

“Sounds good, but I think Jon and Spencer should stay here in case somebody shows up, we can’t risk missing out on somebody,” Brendon suggested, and everybody seemed to agree before Brendon and Ryan made their way out of the house and back began to walk back to Pete’s apartment.

*  
An hour had passed, and Jon and Spencer were bored. Brendon and Ryan had called to say that they were only just coming back and that would be awhile.

“How much do you bet that they stopped to get food for themselves on the way there?” Spencer asked as he laid on the old sofa.

“I bet they didn’t even get us anything either…I really want a sandwich,” Jon replied as he laid on the other sofa across from Spencer.

“Yeah, a sandwich sounds good right now,” Spencer said, now realizing just how hungry he was.

“Do you think that since Pete is a sorcerer that he can make us a sandwich?” Jon questioned, and Spencer actually considered this before realizing that it would a ridiculous thing for Pete to be able to.

“I don’t think so, besides, he said he specialises in the elements.”

“Sandwiches are an important element in my life, does that count?” Jon asked, looking over at Spencer.

“I really want to say yes Jon, but I don’t think it does,” Spencer said, and he swore he saw the life leave Jon’s eyes for a moment. Jon really wanted that sandwich.

“That sucks, if I was a sorcerer I would make sure I could make sandwiches appear out of thin air,” Jon said, and Spencer laughed at this.

“You really like sandwiches, don’t you?” 

“Yeah, I remember the first time I ever ate a sandwich five years ago, it was possibly the greatest moment in my life,” Jon replied.

“How old are you again Jon?” Spencer asked, not really following what Jon had just said.

“Thirty-two.”

“So, you’re telling me that you hadn’t ever had a sandwich until you were twenty-seven?” Spencer questioned.

“Yep.”

“How?” 

“I don’t know, I just never really had the opportunity to try one, I’m not from around here,” Jon said, and before Spencer could question him as to what that meant, the front door opened to reveal Brendon, Ryan, Pete and Andy and Joe.

“I see you brought the whole gang,” Jon stated once everybody was inside.

“Andy and Joe said that they wanted to help as well and I’m not one to deny a person from helping to find their friend,” Brendon said with a shrug.

“So, is there a cloak?” Ryan asked once Pete had had a good look around.

“I think I’m sensing something, let me check,” Pete said before raising a hand and a purple circle with dozens of symbols inside it appeared in front of his palm.

Pete then slowly turned his palm as if turning a doorknob and kept going until he stopped, and the circle disappeared.

“There’s a cloak alright and if I did it right, then it should be removed any moment now,” Pete said and just moments later, objects that weren’t there before began to appear all over the bottom floor.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe that worked,” Pete said, and Brendon saw Ryan raised an eyebrow.

“Why are you so surprised?” Ryan asked.

“I’ve never done the cloaking stuff, it’s not my area so this could’ve gone horribly wrong,” Pete replied, and Brendon wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“Ok then, well let’s have another look around and then we’ll go from there,” Brendon said before Ryan and himself made their way up the stairs.

The bedroom was still mostly bare but there was a white chest of draws that Brendon assumed would now hold a few objects.  
He opened the top draw and found a few photos of, who Brendon assumed to be, Patrick and Pete. They seemed to be more than just close friends. There were also a few scraps of paper that didn’t really have any meaning. Brendon then checked through the rest of the draws but none of them held anything important.

“Find anything Ryan?” Brendon asked, turning around to where Ryan was reading a piece of paper.

“Yeah, there’s an address on this piece of paper and it looks really recent, like only a few days old and a note on the back saying to not forget to go here,” Ryan said, showing Brendon the paper.

“It doesn’t seem to be in this city,” Brendon said, not recognizing the postcode.

“We should ask the guys, see if they recognise it.”

The two then made their way down the stairs to find everybody all stood waiting.

“Find anything?” Brendon questioned once at the bottom.

“Not a thing,” Jon replied.

“Well Ryan found this address, anybody recognise it?” Brendon asked as Ryan showed the paper to everybody.

There was a brief silence as everybody racked their brains before Jon spoke up.

“It’s in the city but just barely, I’ve been in that area before, not the nicest place,” Jon explained, and everybody seemed to want to question Jon but decided to just go with it.

“Awesome, let’s head over now,” Brendon said but Jon shook his head.

“It’ll be better if we go at night, trust me,” Jon said.

“What difference does it make?” Spencer asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“We can’t just go into a new neighborhood in the middle of the day and start snooping around,” Jon replied.

Nobody argued with that and decided to just have another look around and come up with some form of plan for getting there until the time came.  
Things were getting interesting.


	3. Chapter 3

Night soon fell, and the group decided to take Joe’s car and then have two of them take a taxi there since there wasn’t enough room for them all and it was too far to walk.

“Well I’m leading the way so I’m not doing it,” Jon said as the seven of them all stood outside Joe’s car.

They had not come to an agreement as to who would have to get the taxi and pay.

“I’m driving so that’s me out as well,” Joe said, holding his keys up.

“I’m broke man, I spent the last of this month’s money on Patrick’s gift,” Pete argued.

“I’ll get the taxi,” Andy spoke up, crossing his arms.

“I will too, this could’ve been over like ten minutes ago,” Ryan said, and it was finally decided.

Once the taxi had arrived, everybody got in their designated vehicle and they set off. It was a half an hour drive to the edge of the city and Brendon saw what Jon meant when he said it wasn’t the nicest place. The buildings and homes were falling apart, and it made Brendon feel terrible that there were people who had to live like this and he couldn’t really help all of them. It was also apparent that these people really did know who lived here because they got some strange looks as they drove by.

Eventually they arrived at the address and everybody got out of their vehicles and regrouped outside the crumbling house.

“Let’s hope that we get more than just another address this time,” Brendon said before walking up to the house, the group following behind shortly after.

Brendon found that the house was locked and thought about trying to push it open, but Pete stepped beside him and placed his hand on the handle. There was then a quiet click and the door opened. 

“Thanks.”

The group then entered the house and switched on the lights after searching around for the switch. It was incredibly messy and rundown inside. There was broken furniture and the walls were mouldy and were most likely supposed to be white but were now a strange greyish colour.

“Once again, what was Patrick Stump doing here? Any ideas Pete?” Brendon asked, looking at Pete.

“I honestly have no idea, I didn’t even know Patrick knew this part of the city,” Pete replied, looking around the room, clearly just as confused Brendon.

The group then decided to search for more evidence and Pete made sure to check if there as a cloak, but there was no luck on either side.

“It’s so weird, why does it just stop here?” Spencer questioned, crossing his arms.

“I don’t know but we’ve got to be missing something,” Brendon said before noticing something that didn’t seem quite right.

“Hold on.”

Brendon then walked over to the back wall and noticed that was a fine line going down the middle of the wall and it was faintly glowing. 

“What is that?” Brendon murmured before turning back to the group with confusion on his face.

“Any ideas?” Brendon asked, pointing at the line.

Pete walked over to it and seemed surprised by its presence.

“Holy shit,” Pete practically whispered.

“Holy shit what?” Brendon asked, and Pete just looked at Brendon.

“I think there’s a portal in this wall.”

“A portal?”

“Yeah, only the best sorcerers can make them, and they usually embed them into walls but obviously whoever made this isn’t up to scratch yet, I don’t think they meant to let this show and that means that Patrick might   
be through there!” Pete said, his voice louder by the end of it.

“Woah, I didn’t even know that portals were a thing,” Brendon said, he’d heard of sorcerers but never really knew what they could do.

“Well they are, and this is good news, either Patrick made this and is possibly trapped if it’s not stable or if somebody took him then they were obviously hiding him through here,” Pete explained, and while Brendon didn’t like jumping to conclusions, those options sounded very plausible.

“Alright then, can you open it?” Ryan asked from behind.

“I can try, I’ve never really done this before,” Pete said, scratching his head.

“Let me guess, this could go horribly wrong?” Ryan asked, and Pete just laughed a little before nodding.

Everybody then stood back as Pete put both hands out and two large, green circles similar to the purple ones appeared and Pete began to turn his hands from side to side as trying to crack the code on a safe.  
He did this for a while before there was a loud crash and Pete put his arms down and turned to the group.

“I think I did it,” He said, and then just like before, all was revealed.

There was door like shape in the wall now and it was glowing unusual colours and it looked quite pretty to Brendon.

“Good job Pete let’s go find your guy,” Brendon said with a smile.

Pete then explained to everybody that they may feel slightly nauseas after stepping through, but it would wear off quickly before everybody stepped into the portal.  
It all happened very fast for Brendon, it was as if he had walked through a regular door into another room except this room was a dark corridor that had a singular door at one end and a few more going down it. It was very ominous.

“Ok then, we’re in a creepy corridor,” Joe said while everybody else got their bearings together.

“We are indeed,” Spencer said, looking around.

“Well, I guess we should split up and search the rooms?” Brendon suggested with an unsure shrug, not really sure whether it would be wise.

“I guess so,” Ryan said before walking down the corridor and entering one of the side rooms.  
Pete and Andy then went into another side room, Joe went into another on his own and Jon and Spencer took the last side room, leaving the creepy room at the end for Brendon.

“Of course,” Brendon muttered as he slowly made his way to the door.

The door seemed to carry a strange vibe from it and Brendon wasn’t sure whether he should go in or not, but he knew that if there was chance that Patrick Stump was inside, then he had to do his job and go in.  
Brendon slowly raised his hand and put it on the door handle before pulling it down and opening the door. Brendon was then hit with an incredibly cold gust of air.   
The room was in darkness apart from the single lightbulb that lit up the centre of the room and Brendon could just make out the figure of a person on the floor. 

“Patrick Stump?” Brendon asked as he cautiously entered the room, but he got no response.

Brendon then pulled out his phone and switched on the torch to get a better look at this person.  
The person laying on the floor was not Patrick Stump, he didn’t look like him in the slightest. It was a man that was possibly older than Brendon and he was clearly unconscious. The man was wearing all black and it looked almost like a military uniform of some kind, another thing that stuck out was the white hair. This man had clearly been through a severe beating with his face being almost completely covered in blood and there were several tears in his clothes. It made Brendon wonder if this was the man that Ryan had been seeing.  
Brendon crouched down and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder and that’s when the sirens started. They were incredibly loud, and Brendon wasn’t sure whether that was him or somebody else.

“Oh, come on, I didn’t even do anything!” Brendon exclaimed to nobody, flinging his arms out in frustration.

Brendon then decided to just grab the guy and made his way out of the room as fast as possible.

Out in the corridor, Brendon found the whole group stood in panic, watching Brendon come racing down the corridor with a man over his shoulder.

“What did you do?!” Spencer exclaimed.

“I don’t know, I just touched the guy to see if he was ok and then the sirens started so I grabbed him and ran!” Brendon yelled, he wasn’t sure why he was yelling but it was probably just the panic inside of him talking.

Brendon could see the look of shock on Ryan’s face that just confirmed that this was the guy that needed saving indeed.

“Well let’s talk about this guy later because we need to get out of here, Patrick clearly isn’t here but this guy might know something,” Joe said quickly, before everybody nodded and jumped back through the portal.

Nobody stopped running after they exited the portal and ran straight out of the house and they all piled into Joe’s car, three of them having to sit on somebody’s laps.  
The group then drove off back into the city they knew.

“What the hell just happened back there?” Spencer asked, looking at Brendon.

“I don’t know, all I did was go in the creepy room and I found this guy and I thought I’d better get a closer look to see if he had been fatally injured but then the moment I touched him the sirens went off like I said before,” Brendon explained, still trying to comprehend what just that place was.

“Where are we even going?” Joe questioned, looking at the group in the back through the rear-view mirror.

“I think whoever this is might need somewhere safe to stay, so just go to this address, he should be safe there,” Brendon said, showing Joe a piece of card with an address on it.

“Whatever you say.”

They drove until they reached the address and Brendon and Ryan told the others to go home and that they’d call if anything happened because this person was not going to be impressed.

The two carried the guy between the two of them as they walked up the stairs to the apartment above the bar and banged on the door at the top.  
Brendon’s heart was racing as his felt the adrenaline really hit him as he awaited an answer.

Eventually the door opened to reveal a very annoyed looking Frank Iero.

“This had better be good, or you are fucking dead,” Frank said, his voice low and every word was soaked in venom.

Brendon was now regretting his decision greatly.


	4. Chapter 4

Frank stared at the body on his sofa before finally deciding to call Ray.

Ray Toro was Frank’s good friend, if not only friend, who was generally a very kind-hearted man that seemed to be the only person that gave a single damn about Frank. He was also the only person that worked at the bar alongside Frank and so the two were close and was trusted immensely.

“Hey man, I’m so sorry it’s so late but I kinda need your help, I’ve got a… situation that I’m too sure of,” Frank explained once Ray had picked up.

Frank listened as Ray said he’d be over as soon as possible and then hung up. It was just past midnight, so Frank would’ve been taken aback that Ray had agreed to help if he could actually feel.

Then about half an hour later, there was a knock at the door. Frank stood up from the armchair and made his way to the door before opening it to reveal a very cold Ray Toro.

Ray was a very tall man, being just over six foot and had dark curly hair that reached just past his shoulders. He was a psychic in training as his mother and father were too and so Ray had the genes and just had to learn how to use them correctly. Today he wore a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and a coat, he was dressed for the weather.

“Hey Ray, thank you so much for helping,” Frank greeted as he let Ray in and shut the door.

“No problem Frank, now what’s the situation?” Ray asked as he rubbed his arms.

“Why is it always so cold in here?” Ray then asked as he zipped his coat up further.

“I don’t exactly need it on, do I Ray?” Frank replied, crossing his arms.

Frank was dead and so it would only be natural that his senses and feelings were too.

“Sorry, I always forget.” 

“Don’t worry about it, kinda hard to remember that somebody’s dead when you’re talking to them,” Frank said with a shrug.

“Well, anyway, what the situation?” Ray asked, changing the topic.

Everybody always acted so apologetic around Frank and he hated that. Why can’t they just treat him like every other strange being in the city? So, even though Frank missed being able to feel, he pretended like everything was fine and went about his everyday business.

“There’s a body on my couch,” Frank replied blankly.

“Ok, care to elaborate?” Ray asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Sure, follow me.”

Frank then led Ray to the living room area of the apartment and gestured to the body laid on the worn-out sofa and gestured to the body.

“Frank, I meant elaborate on why there’s a body on your couch, not just show me it,” Ray said with a sigh after taking a look at the body.

“Oh, right, yeah that’s fair,” Frank said before gesturing for Ray to sit on an armchair to the left of the couch.

Once the two were seated, with Frank on the armchair to the right of the couch, Frank took a deep breath despite not really needing to do it before speaking.

“Ok, so about ten minutes before I called you, Brendon and Ryan showed up with this body and told me that they’d found him while on a case and to watch him until he wakes up, and I don’t know what to do,” Frank explained as quickly as possible.

“I see, well I assume that you do as they said and watch him until he wakes up,” Ray said but Frank just groaned.

“Ray, I have a job, so I can’t just sit here and watch this body all the time,” Frank said, and Ray just shook his head.

“I work in the bar too Frank, I can watch over it until this guy is out of your hair, besides, you could use the company I’m sure.”

“Very funny, but I’m perfectly happy the way my life is now,” Frank said, but didn’t look at Ray.

“If you say so Frank, but if you want I can stay here and watch the guy for tonight and you go get some rest,” Ray offered, and Frank thought about it for a moment before agreeing.

Frank didn’t actually need sleep, but he could still do it, and it seemed better than sitting around for hours until it was morning. 

So, Frank said goodnight before leaving Ray and the body and going into his bedroom and collapsing on his bed. He lay there for a while before shutting his eyes and drifting off into a dreamless slumber.

*  
“Y’know what? He didn’t react as badly as I thought he would,” Brendon said as he grabbed the coffee cup off the counter in the café.

Brendon and Ryan had awoken quite early and had discovered that they had run out of coffee and so had to go to the small café just down the street from their apartment building. It was a quiet place that was run by a group of guys who had dropped out of college early.

“Brendon, he punched you in the face,” Ryan said as he awaited his coffee, leaning against the counter.

“Well yeah, but he could’ve done something far worse, so I think it went well,” Brendon responded, with a shrug.

“That poor guy can’t even spend eternity in peace,” Ryan muttered but Brendon knew he was just joking and just laughed to himself before seeing Alex come up to the front of the counter.

Alex Gaskarth was one of the owners of the café and was a very kind guy, just like the rest of the guys.

“Early morning I see,” Alex said as he handed another cup over the counter to Ryan.

“Yeah, the case we’re working just got a little intense,” Brendon said as Ryan grabbed his cup and thanked Alex.

“Man, being a detective must be so cool,” Alex said as he leant on the counter, head in his hand.

“It is pretty cool, just don’t expect much sleep,” Brendon said before taking a sip of his coffee.

“Well you guys have fun being sleep deprived,” Alex said with a little laugh before turning to one of the guys, who Brendon recognised as Jack Barakat, Alex’s best friend.

“Thank you,” Brendon thanked with a smile before he left the building, Ryan at his side.

“Alright, so what do we do while we wait for the guy to wake up?” Brendon asked as the two made their way down the busy street.

“We could try and look through our notes again, read the addresses and try and make a connection because I don’t think there’s a whole lot else we can do,” Ryan replied, and Brendon only nodded because Ryan was right, this stranger was their only hope at the moment until it was safe to go back and search the corridor through the portal again.

“Yeah, I guess that’s all we can do right now, I just hope that this guy wakes up soon.”

“I just can’t believe that he was the one in my dreams,” Ryan said as he intertwined his hand with Brendon’s.

“Yeah, can you imagine if we didn’t take this case? That guy would still be in danger of whoever did those things to him,” Brendon said, trying his best not to imagine it himself.

“I don’t think I want to…but at least he’s safe now.”

“Yeah, I really hope he can help give some answers because Patrick Stump seems to have the best disappearing act I’ve ever seen.”

*  
Frank was bored.

He was insanely bored in fact.

He’d cleaned his apartment for the fifth time that week, fed and walked his dog Sweetpea and had even fixed a hole in one of his jumpers. He was then left with nothing to do as he sat in the armchair as Ray had left a few hours ago to open the bar.

Frank then looked at the lifeless body next to him and finally looked at him in full detail. His face was actually quite beautiful from what he could see. His white hair had patches of red, which Frank presumed was blood, and the man’s face was also covered in dried up blood and his clothes had tears all over them. This made Frank almost feel bad for acting like this man was a burden to him and decided to clean the guy up.

He stood up and went into his bathroom and grabbed the face cloth off the sink. He then ran it under the hot tap and squeezed it to get all the extra content out before realising he might need more than this. Frank then leant down and picked up the bucket he kept for cleaning and placed it in the bath to his right and turning the water on, filling the bucket up with hot water and then taking it out.   
He then carried the bucket and cloth out of the bathroom and into the living room and that’s when he froze.

The body was sitting up.

Frank wasn’t really sure what to do and so just stood there until the guy turned his head and the two made eye contact. Frank saw fear in the guy’s eyes and could also see that the guy was breathing extremely fast, as expected of somebody if they woke up somewhere new.

“Please don’t touch me,” The guy said quietly, the fear still in his eyes and Frank didn’t know what way he meant, just what had this guy been through?

“It’s ok, I’m friends with the guys that saved you,” Frank said, taking a step towards the sofa, which seemed to just frighten the guy even further.

“What were you gonna do to me then?” He asked as he glanced at the bucket in Frank’s hand.

“I was gonna clean up your face, it’s covered in blood,” Frank explained.

“Really?” 

“Really, I’m not one to lie.”

The guy seemed to search Frank’s eyes for a lie before nodding, and Frank took this as a sign and made his way over to the sofa and sat beside the man on the armchair, placing the bucket on the floor. “Do you mind if I do that now then? You don’t seem to be in a state to do it yourself… what’s your name?” 

“Uh it’s Gerard, Gerard Way and if you think that’s best then go ahead,” Gerard replied.

“That’s a nice name, I’m Frank Iero.”

Frank then leant across and noticed just how beautiful Gerard’s eyes were before bringing the cloth up to Gerard’s face as he closed his eyes.

As he wiped down Gerard’s face, Frank thought he felt the slightest bit of warmth in his face before it was gone again. Frank just ignored it and decided that it was just his imagination before finishing up on Gerard’s face and putting the cloth in the bucket.

“Alright, that’s your face cleaned up,” Frank said before taking in Gerard’s face in full now.

He was stunning, it was almost unnatural because Frank had never seen a human or creature that looked this beautiful in his time on Earth.

“Thank you, you’re a nice guy for somebody that’s dead,” Gerard said, and Frank went to respond but then realised something strange.

“Wait, how did you know that I’m dead?” Frank asked, a look of confusion on his face.

“I can feel it, your heart isn’t beating,” Gerard explained but Frank wasn’t satisfied with that answer.

“What are you Gerard?” Frank questioned because he’d never met anybody that could feel a heartbeat from a distance.

“I’m an angel.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Ok Frank, calm down we’ll be there as soon as we can,” Brendon said over the phone to Frank as he walked down the street with Ryan.

Evening was creeping closer when Frank called up and explained to Brendon that the body, who was apparently Gerard Way, had awoken and claimed to be an angel and he figured that Brendon would like to know this.

“I guess that the guy woke up?” Ryan asked as Brendon hailed a taxi.

“Yep, his name is Gerard Way apparently and claims that he’s an angel,” Brendon said as the two got into the car.

“This could be interesting if he’s telling the truth,” Ryan said, leaning his head on Brendon’s shoulder after Brendon gave the driver the address.

“It would also be helpful, he might be able to help us speed up this search.”

“That’s true but I guess we won’t know until we get there.”

Brendon just sighed and closed his eyes, resting his head against Ryan’s. It was these little moments that reminded Brendon why he came to this city in the first place. He was never supposed to be in this city, but Ryan Ross was a man of many wonders that had brought him here in a heartbeat.

Soon they arrived at Frank’s bar and Brendon paid for the taxi and they made their way up the stairs to the apartment door. Brendon knocked on the door and awaited an answer.

“This is something I never thought I’d be doing, talking to one of god almighty’s angels,” Brendon said, realising just how low he was compared to this holy being.

“Not your everyday encounter, is it?” Ryan said, and then the door opened.

Frank didn’t say a word as he let Brendon and Ryan into the apartment and Brendon could feel his heart pounding as they entered the living room. Gerard Way was sat on the sofa with his back to them and Brendon had almost forgotten what he’d looked like due to the rush of his rescue the other night.

The three of them then all walked to the seats, Brendon sitting on one armchair, Ryan sitting on the other and Frank sitting beside Gerard.

“Hey, I’m Brendon Urie and I’m a detective and this is one of my partners, Ryan Ross,” Brendon greeted, watching Gerard smile slightly at him.

“Hi, you’re the one that rescued me, right?” Gerard asked, and Brendon simply nodded.

“Well uh thanks I guess, I’m not really sure what else to say,” Gerard said, then glancing around anywhere that was in Brendon’s direction.

“So, Frank tells me that you’re an angel, is that correct?” Brendon questioned, hoping that Ryan’s gift would still work on such a being.

“I am, is that a problem?” Gerard replied, now looking Brendon in the eye but not in a threatening manner.

Brendon simply looked at Ryan, who gave him a nod, before turning back to Gerard and shaking his head.

“No, just getting the facts straight is all, now do you mind if we ask you some questions that may benefit the case we’re working on?” 

“Uh sure, I’m not sure how much help I’ll be though,” Gerard said, seeming to relax ever so slightly.

“Ok, great, so Gerard, would you mind telling me what had happened to you when I found you so badly injured?” Brendon asked, noticing that Ryan had pulled out his notepad and pen again.

“It’s kind of a long story,” Gerard said, looking down at his lap.

“We’ve got time, so why not start with why a being of your power is on Earth?” Ryan asked blankly, he was great at getting answers.

“I came down here to meet some…people, to sort out a disagreement,” Gerard said, still not looking up.

“Gerard, just what people were you meeting? What business would you have with humans that involves a disagreement?” Brendon pressed, he needed these answers in case these people were involved in Patrick’s   
disappearance.

“Ok, they were a group of demons, I saw them trying to get this guy to sell his soul but this guy was such a pure being that I couldn’t just stand by and watch, so I came down and that’s when we had the disagreement,   
they said that I had no right to get myself involved in their business since they don’t bother my kind but I wasn’t going to let it happen,” Gerard explained, and Brendon then dug into his blazer pocket and pulled out one of the photos of Patrick and Pete that he took for evidence.

“Is this the man you tried to save Gerard?” Brendon asked, showing the photo to Gerard, pointing at Patrick.

Gerard then looked up at the photo for a moment before nodding, this time he kept his head up.

“This man is Patrick Stump and he was reported missing a couple of weeks of ago and Ryan I were hired by his friends to find him and this links you to him now,” Brendon explained.

“Well after I argued with the demons for a while, I began to question why one simple sorcerer’s soul was so important that there was five of them there to get it but one of them, who seemed to be their leader, just sighed before throwing some kind of powder at me and I then fell unconscious so I’m assuming that they took this man for some evil reason and I was getting in their way and risked exposure, so they took me captive and proceeded to do these awful things to me until you guys showed up and here we are,” Gerard said and Brendon was impressed and shocked by how easily he spoke of the torture.

“Thank you for that Gerard, you don’t possibly have any idea as to where Patrick is now? He wasn’t where you were when we searched,” Brendon asked but Gerard shook his head.

“I’m sorry, I don’t even know where I was, but I can try and track him if you give me something of importance to him, that could give me a general idea of which area he’s in if he’s still somewhere on Earth that is,” Gerard offered.

“That’s better than anything we can do Gerard, I’ll call up Pete and see if he can give us something to use,” Brendon said before thanking Gerard and standing up and heading into the kitchen to call Pete, Ryan   
following shortly after.

“He’s a brave angel, that’s for sure,” Ryan said once they were out of ear shot.

“I know, going through torture for two weeks straight and then just brushing it off like it’s nothing,” Brendon said but Ryan just shook his head.

“I’m not talking about that.”

“Then what are you talking about?” Brendon asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Angels aren’t allowed to come down to Earth unless they have good reason and stopping a deal with a demon is not a reason that is valid, so Gerard technically broke one of their many rules which is a big deal up there with all the goodness and light that lives there…unless Gerard was here for another reason which means that he was specifically sent to stop that deal and he knows more or he’s here for a very different reason that he won’t say but either way, he’s not telling us something,” Ryan replied, and Brendon’s eyes widened slightly.

“Holy shit, we’ve got a criminal angel.”

*  
“So, do you have any family up there? Do angels even have family?” Frank asked after a lengthy period of silence between Gerard and Frank.

Gerard had only known Frank for about an hour, but he liked him a lot.

“It’s complicated up there but yes I do, I have a brother, he likes to be called Mikey,” Gerard replied, looking at Frank.

“Do you miss him?” Frank questioned.

Gerard did miss his brother very much, he wished he could see him again, but he knew that this wasn’t possible any longer.

“Yeah, he’s a good guy, doesn’t have many friends up there because of me,” Gerard said, and Frank raised an eyebrow.

“What did you do?” 

“I’d rather not talk about it,” Gerard said, and then there was silence.

“Well, if you’re not going anywhere anytime soon, you might wanna change your clothes because I don’t have anything that’ll fit you and I don’t think your ripped clothes are something you want to be wearing,” Frank said, breaking the slightly awkward silence.

“Yeah, that would be a good idea,” Gerard said before standing up.

Gerard then did a little spin and he’d changed not only his clothes, but his hair as well, it was something that he had enjoyed doing up in Heaven, but the other angels had always given him strange looks for sticking out. He had changed his hair to red and kept it short and had changed his outfit to a pair of black skinny jeans, boots and a black t-shirt with a few yellow stripes across the chest.

“How’s this?” Gerard asked, looking at Frank again.

“You look amazing,” Frank said, and Gerard felt his cheeks go a little red at this comment, nobody had ever given Gerard a compliment before.

“Thanks, nobody’s ever told me that,” Gerard said, sitting back down next to Frank.

“I don’t know how because you’re really stunning Gerard, they were probably just jealous so don’t go thinking otherwise,” Frank said and now Gerard was on fire, Frank probably didn’t understand how these comments affected Gerard but how could he if he couldn’t even feel?

Gerard went to respond but then Brendon and Ryan came back into the room.

“Hey guys, sorry about that but Pete is coming over once he’s found something for you to use so shouldn’t be too long,” Brendon said, sitting down in his previous seat.

Gerard was having an extremely eventful day so far.


	6. Chapter 6

Pete, Andy and Joe had arrived shortly after the phone call with Jon and Spencer arriving shortly after them after Ryan had called them to come over, and they had made it into the living room before Pete had stopped.   
Brendon had never seen so much awe on one man’s face than on Pete Wentz’s when he saw Gerard for the first time. 

“Pete? Did you bring something?” Brendon asked, snapping his fingers in front of Pete’s face.

Pete then seemed to come back and nodded before holding up a brown paper bag.

“There’s something in there that he really loves,” Pete explained after he saw the puzzled expressions amongst the group.

Brendon thanked Pete before taking the bag from him and looking inside it. Inside the bag was a fedora, a simple black fedora.

“A fedora?” Brendon asked as he took the fedora out of the bag.

“Yep, Patrick wore that hat religiously and the only time that I saw him without it was when he was sleeping…and the day he went missing,” Pete said, a little quieter at the end.

"Wait, I thought you said he was wearing a fedora the day he went missing?" 

"He was, but he owns a few hats but this one is his favourite," Pete explained, and Brendon simply nodded before responding.

“Thanks Pete, we’ll find Patrick soon, I promise,” Brendon said before turning to Gerard and handing it to him.

“Just be careful with it,” Pete said, and Brendon had a feeling that this hat had a meaningful story behind it.

“We will, don’t worry,” Brendon said reassuringly.

Brendon then watched as Gerard examined the hat thoroughly before looking at Frank.

“Do you have any white paint?” Gerard asked, and this seemed to confuse Frank.

“No?” He replied, clearly unsure of the question.

“Really?” Gerard said, clearly let down by this.

“I’m not an artist Gerard, so no, I don’t have any white paint.”

“Well do you have anything to substitute it that’s also white?” 

Frank seemed to think for a moment before excusing himself and rushing out of the apartment and disappearing for about ten minutes before rushing back in with a bag.

“Will this do?” Frank asked, his breathing heavy, those stairs had clearly taken it out of his small legs.

“Is that flour?” Spencer asked from somewhere amongst the group.

“Yes, it is and unless you have any other ideas, I suggest you shut your damn mouth,” Frank said, and Brendon felt relief after he had been wondering when the regular, aggressive Frank would make his comeback.

“Frank, you can’t say things like that,” Gerard said, clearly extremely offended by Frank’s language.

“What? Damn?” Frank asked, and Gerard just gasped.

“Stop it, you can’t say that,” Gerard said, and Frank just sighed before handing the flour to Jon without a word and then putting his hands on Gerard’s arms.

“Gerard, I say this in the nicest way possible, but you’re just gonna have to suck it up because it’s gonna get a lot fucking worse than that,” Frank said, and Gerard’s eyes went wide at this, but he didn’t say a word, which made Brendon wonder whether it was the language or the physical contact that caused this reaction.

“Now, is the flour enough?” Frank asked, removing his hands from Gerard’s arms.

“Uh yeah, that’s fine,” Gerard said before Jon handed the flour to him.

Gerard then began to sprinkle the flour across the floor to form a circle with some symbols inside it before brushing his hands off and putting the fedora in the centre and then stepping outside of it.

“Alright, let’s get started,” Gerard said before putting his hands out and taking a deep breath and going to speak, but was then stopped by Jon speaking up.

“You forgot the symbol of truth,” Jon pointed out, and Gerard turned to looked at Jon with a puzzled expression.

Brendon wasn’t sure what was going in here, but Gerard seemed to be troubled by this statement whereas Jon seemed to be like he always was, carefree.

“Thanks, but how’d you know that?” Gerard asked, and Jon just shrugged.

“I’m no stranger to the heavenly,” Jon said casually.

“Ok, well thanks I guess,” Gerard said before using the flour again to draw another symbol and then put it down again and put his hands out once again.

Brendon then watched as Gerard said a few words that clearly weren’t English, and the circle began to glow a bright white. It was a sight to see and Brendon still couldn’t comprehend that they had the help of such a powerful being on their side.

Eventually the light died down and Gerard put his arms down again before turning to the group.

“Ok, so there’s something blocking Patrick’s exact location and I’m not sure of what it is, but I was still able to get a general area and he’s apparently somewhere in a place called Austin, Texas,” Gerard explained, and   
everybody just groaned.

“What’s Texas?” Gerard questioned, tilting his head to the side slightly.

“A place where pretty much everything that’s bad is legal,” Brendon explained, and this seemed to alarm Gerard as expected.

“That sounds awful,” Gerard said, and everybody just nodded.

“It is, trust me,” Ryan said, crossing his arms.

“Well, I guess we’d better get started on organizing a way there because something tells me that Joe’s car isn’t going fit all ten of us,” Brendon said and everybody except for one seemed to agree.

“Uh, I think you mean nine, I’m not coming with,” Frank stated.

“You sure?” Brendon asked, thinking that Frank would want to join in since he was pretty much involved now.

“Yeah, I’ve had enough of adventure for one day,” Frank replied, clearly not going to be moved.

Brendon just nodded as everybody else started to plan amongst themselves and was going to join in but then noticed that this seemed to trouble Gerard, who had a look of sadness in his eyes and had his head hung, hands in his pockets.

“On second thought, I think you should come with Frank,” Brendon said, causing Frank to raise an eyebrow.

“And why is that?” He questioned.

“Well, Gerard met you first and probably trusts you more because of that so I think it might be bad to separate you two because he might feel uncomfortable around all these strangers,” Brendon explained, noticing that Gerard had lifted his head up slightly.

“You think so?” Frank asked, crossing his arms.

“Yep.”

“Alright, I’ll go with if it makes Gerard more comfortable,” Frank said, and Gerard’s head shot up, his eyes lighting up.

“See? He’s already happier,” Brendon said before turning to the group.

The group then decided that they’d have to rent a minivan or something because it would be too expensive for a taxi and renting two cars would also be too expensive. This way they could take Joe’s car as well and everybody would fit between the two.

“Ok, it’s about a day’s drive from here to Austin so we’ll set off tomorrow morning, so I suggest we all get what we need for the drive and today and then meet up here at about eight tomorrow, sound good?” Brendon suggested, and everybody seemed content with that.

“Gerard and I can get the food,” Jon said, and Brendon wanted to ask why but then remembered that questioning Jon got him nowhere.

“Sounds good, Gerard could use the time to get used to this place.”

*  
Gerard glanced at Jon as they made their way down the busy street.

“So, are you an angel? Because you said you were familiar with the heavenly,” Gerard finally asked, he had been confused by Jon because he couldn’t see what creature he was for some reason.

“Sure,” Jon replied blankly.

“What does that mean?” Gerard asked, not sure whether he meant that he was or whether he meant something else.

“It means, sure, you can say that,” Jon said, and Gerard just wished that he could see what was going on in his mind, but something was keeping him out.

“Ok then,” Gerard said, still full of questions.

They continued to walk until they both stopped at the exact same time, there was somebody following them.

Gerard and Jon then walked down the closest alleyway to keep this confrontation from the public and that’s when Gerard saw them. The five demons.

“Hi Gerard mate, we’ve been looking for you,” One said, and Gerard just sighed.

“You’re looking well Ben.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Ok, first the last time, this isn’t up for debate,” Ben said, putting a hand to his head.

Ben Bruce and his group of friends, Danny Worsnop, Sam Bettley, Cameron Liddell and James Cassells had been sent on a mission by Lucifer himself to capture a specific sorcerer and to also kill Gerard Way. So far only one of those objectives had been completed. 

“Why not? I offered you wonderful things,” Gerard said, clearly not getting the idea that they were here to kill him.

“You offered us your friends dog.”

“It’s a very cute dog,” Gerard said as if that would change everything.

“We don’t want the dog!” Ben exclaimed.

“I’d like the dog,” Danny said, and Ben groaned in frustration.

“Danny, we talked about this, you already have a dog,” Ben said, turning to his best friend.

“Yeah but Cowboy gets lonely,” Danny tried to reason but Ben wasn’t going to be moved on this.

“Danny, we’ll talk about this later ok? Now, Gerard I’m sorry but it’s time for you to die so let’s get this over with,” Ben said and went to move on Gerard but was interrupted by the man beside Gerard.

“What kind of dog do you have?” The man asked.

Ben turned to Danny, who seemed just as surprised by the question, before looking back at the man.

“Me?” Danny asked, and the man nodded.

“He’s a Labrador,” Danny said, and the man smiled.

“Good dogs, I’ve always wanted my own dog but never got around to getting one.”

“Who are you?” Danny questioned.

“Jon Walker.”

“Well, Jon Walker, I suggest you get a dog as soon as you can because they’re great creatures,” Danny said, and Jon nodded.

“Will do,” Jon said and before Ben could say something, Sam spoke up.

“Uh, where’s Gerard?” Sam asked and that’s when Ben noticed that the angel was missing.

“Shit,” Ben muttered, realising that this was all a distraction.

“Can we kill this guy then? I’m missing out on a sandwich for this,” Sam asked, and Ben was not opposed to that.

“Yeah why not? It’s been a while,” Ben said and once again, before he could do anything, Jon was gone too.

“Of course,” Ben murmured before turning back to his friends.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find them again, after all, he’s working with Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump knows where Wentz is going,” Ben said as the group began to exit the alley.

“Can we get a sandwich now? I’m starving,” Ben heard James ask and he just sighed.

“Yeah sure.”

*  
Brendon was back at home with Ryan and Spencer in the living room when a thought occurred to him.

“Hey guys, do you guys maybe think that Gerard isn’t here for a reason?” Brendon asked as he sat down beside Ryan on the sofa.

“What do you mean?” Spencer asked, leaning forward from the other side of Ryan to look at Brendon.

“Well Ryan said he saw that Gerard was lying about why he was here, so I just thinking that what if Gerard is here because he has nowhere else to go,” Brendon suggested.

“Like kicked out of Heaven?” Ryan asked, and Brendon nodded.

“I mean Gerard doesn’t have to help us, he could go home whenever he wanted, right? So why doesn’t he? Such a powerful being shouldn’t be concerned over this case because if it was really important surely more would be here,” Brendon explained, and Ryan and Spencer seemed to think through this.

“Yeah that is pretty weird, also I was talking to Frank once Gerard and Jon left and he said that Gerard told him that he missed his brother and that he didn’t have many friends because of him which does add suspicion,” Spencer said.

“I think we need to talk to Gerard again soon because he’s connected to Patrick somehow, it’s too coincidental that he just happened to see, out of so many people, Patrick Stump and the demons,” Ryan said, and Brendon nodded in agreement.

“We can try again tomorrow when we leave,” Spencer said before standing up.

“Going home?” Brendon asked, and Spencer nodded.

“Jon should be back soon, so I’ll ask him if he found out something,” Spencer replied as he made his way to the door.

“Well good luck I guess, tell us if you find out anything,” Brendon called as Spencer left the apartment.

*  
_Spencer could remember the day he met Jon Walker four years ago. It had been a snowy day just like this day and Spencer had been making his way to Frank’s bar to meet up with Brendon and Ryan, but something had stopped him doing that, and that something was Jon Walker._

_“Excuse me, do you mind helping me out?” Spencer had heard a voice ask from across the street._

_Spencer could see a man trying to carry a few boxes but was not succeeding, and so he decided to help the poor guy out considering nobody else seemed bothered. He crossed the street and as he got closer, he saw that the man wasn’t wearing a coat but was in fact only wearing trainers, jeans and a t-shirt._

_“Hi, need some help then?” Spencer asked the man once he reached him._

_“Hi, yeah that would be great,” The man said as Spencer took two boxes off of the man, leaving him with two as well._

_“What’s your name?” Spencer asked as the two walked down the street._

_“Jon Walker, you?” Jon had introduced himself with a smile._

_“Spencer Smith and if you don’t mind me asking, why are you carrying so many boxes?” Spencer questioned._

_“There’s clothes in them and I’m taking them to an orphanage,” Jon explained._

_“That’s really nice, not many people out there care enough about the less fortunate,” Spencer said._

_“I only ever think of others if I’m honest.”_

_“I don’t think I’ve ever met somebody who has that mindset before.”_

_“This world isn’t perfect but that’s why I’m trying to make it better in any way that I can,” Jon said, and Spencer couldn’t help but want to know more about Jon._

_“You’re a kind man Jon Walker but I’ve gotta ask, why are you out at this time doing this, especially without a coat in this weather?” Spencer asked, noticing that Jon seemed to be oblivious to the weather. ___

___“I don’t have a home, so I don’t really have anything better to do than help others and I never gave a damn about the weather so why wear one?” Jon replied and that’s the moment that Spencer had made a life changing decision._ _ _

___“You should come live with me…I mean if you want to,” Spencer said, and Jon had looked at Spencer like he was looking at an angel._ _ _

___“Really? I don’t have any money, so I couldn’t help out,” Jon said but Spencer didn’t really care at that moment._ _ _

___“You already help people enough Jon, but maybe you could come work with me and my friends, we’re detectives so we help people so I’m sure you’d be great at it,” Spencer said, and Jon smiled at him._ _ _

___“Alright then, I’ll be a detective,” Jon said with a nod._ _ _

___The had shared a look that was something truly special._ _ _


	8. Chapter 8

Brendon wasn’t sure what he expected to happen on this road trip, but he had not expected Ray Toro to show up with a bag packed and to state that he was coming with because they’d be helpless without somebody responsible. 

“Well I’m not opposed to more help,” Andy had said and so they all agreed to bring Ray along, despite them not having a choice in the first place.

They had split themselves up between Joe’s car and the minivan that Andy had rented out the day before. The seating arrangement had been left up to Andy as well, who had said that he knew who should go where and nobody was to argue with this fact. Joe was to drive his car as expected, Pete was sat in the passenger seat and then in the minivan it was Andy driving, Ray in the passenger seat, Brendon, Ryan and Spencer behind and Frank, Gerard and Jon in the back three.

The group had set off not long after 8am and all was going well for a few hours, Ray and Andy were chatting happily away, Ryan was resting his head on Brendon’s shoulder and the two were talking peacefully, Spencer was asleep and so was Jon, and Frank and Gerard seemed to be talking but very quietly, which had caught Brendon’s attention.

“What are they whispering about?” Brendon asked quietly, and Ryan lifted his head.

“Frank and Gerard?” Ryan questioned, and Brendon nodded.

“No idea,” Ryan said before turning around.

“What’re you guys whispering about?” Ryan asked, clearly not going for subtle.

This had seemed to startle the two and they both gave panicked glances to each other before looking at Ryan and Brendon again.

“Uh I was just telling Frank about my brother,” Gerard explained but Brendon saw Ryan’s unconvinced expression.

“You’re lying,” Ryan said without even batting an eyelid.

“How do you know?” Frank questioned, clearly becoming annoyed already but that wasn’t surprising.

“I think you’ve forgotten about Ryan’s sight, haven’t you?” Brendon said, and Frank just sighed before turning to Gerard, who seemed thoroughly confused.

“Ryan has this weird sight where he can see if you’re lying and some other things, but he won’t tell anyone except Brendon what else he can see,” Frank explained, and this seemed to fascinate Gerard.

“That’s amazing Ryan, I wish I could see so much,” Gerard said but Ryan just turned back around.

“Sorry about him, he isn’t much of a talker,” Brendon said, assuming that they’d have to find about what they were really talking about another time and turning back around, and Brendon could see that Gerard had clearly upset Ryan and put his hand on his shoulder.

“Everything alright?” Brendon asked, a look of concern on his face.

“Fine, I’m just tired,” Ryan said, turning to look out the window and that was the end of that conversation.

Brendon had seen this many times and he knew that it was always best to leave him be until he felt like talking and so, turned to the front and started to think of possible places where Patrick Stump could be.

*  
“How’re you holding up?” Pete heard Joe ask after what felt like hours of silence.

“Good,” Pete replied, still staring out the window.

“I know you’re lying so don’t worry, once we get Patrick back, we can end this, and nobody will have to worry about going through what he did,” Joe said, and Pete looked at Joe.

“What if they find out we’re coming? They’ll disappear again, and this’ll all have been for nothing,” Pete questioned, and Joe just shook his head.

“What happened to your optimism Pete?” Joe asked, glancing over at Pete.

“What’s there to be optimistic about when he’s not here?” 

“Y’know, if he was here then he’d tell you to stop sounding so emo and get on with it,” Joe said with a laugh.

“Patrick would not say that.”

“I’m not talking about Patrick, I’m talking about you know who,” Joe said, and Pete hated it when people brought this up.

“He has a name Joe, why don’t you just use it?”

“Fine, if Mikey Way was here, he’d say that.”

“Now that’s accurate, too bad he died otherwise he’d be here right now.”

“Yeah, must suck for Gerard as well considering what happened to him as well,” Joe said, glancing in the rear-view mirror at the van behind them carrying the angel inside of it.

“Everything just sucks right now.”

*  
It was dark outside when Frank heard the sound of a bag being opened next to him.

“Gerard, what’ve you got in the bag?” Frank asked, unable to see what was in Gerard’s hands due to the darkness in the van.

“Just something I bought with the money Jon gave me yesterday,” Gerard replied, and Frank just switched on the light in the back of the van, revealing a packet of what appeared to be pancakes.

“You bought a bag of pancakes?” Frank questioned, and Gerard just nodded.

“Jon bought some and let me try one of his and I really liked them, so I bought my own, want one?” Gerard explained, holding the bag out to Frank.

“I’m good but thanks,” Frank said, and Gerard just shrugged before beginning to eat his own.

“What else did you buy with Jon’s money?” Frank asked, curious as to what else the angel enjoyed eating.

Gerard didn’t respond but instead just held up a backpack and gave it to Frank, who opened it and found that it full of more bags of pancakes and nothing else.

“You really like pancakes, don’t you?” Frank asked, a small smile appearing on his face.

“They’re so good, I’m shocked that you don’t eat them all the time too,” Gerard replied, and Frank just laughed.

“You have a nice laugh Frank,” Gerard remarked as he dug around the bag for another one.

“Um thanks, it’s been awhile since I last laughed, not really had a reason to,” Frank said, and Gerard seemed upset by this.

“That sounds awful, I think people need to laugh every day, it’s such a nice sound,” Gerard said, and Frank loved Gerard’s view on the world, it was so innocent.

“Yeah, that would be great,” Frank said, turning the light off again.

“Hey Frank?” Gerard said from the darkness.

“Yeah?”

“Can I hold your hand? I’m not exactly used to the dark, it’s not like this up there,” Gerard said, and Frank just wanted to punch a wall because Gerard was so innocent, and he would be damned if he was going to deny him anything.

“Sure, go ahead,” Frank said as casually as he could manage.

Frank then felt Gerard’s warm hand touch his own cold one and it felt nice.

“Your hand is warm, I didn’t think dead people could feel warmth,” Gerard said before looking out the window and at the nothing that was passing by.

Frank then put his spare hand to his face and his eyes widened, his hand really was warm.

What was Gerard Way doing to him?


	9. Chapter 9

The morning soon came, and the group had arrived in Austin and had also found a decent hotel that wasn’t completely falling apart. They had decided to split up and do some individual searching before meeting up in the evening outside the hotel.

“Alright, where to first?” Brendon asked his group as they wandered down the streets.

Brendon was with Ryan, Spencer and Jon as expected and Frank, Gerard and Ray were together and then Joe, Pete and Andy were the last group, so Brendon was hoping for good results with so many people on the case.

“We check any warehouses we can find,” Ryan replied, putting on his sunglasses to block out the blinding sun, it was an unusually bright day.

“Any reason? Seems kinda random,” Spencer questioned.

“Nine out of ten times these criminals tend to use warehouses because they think it’s hidden and the last place anybody will look when it’s actually the most obvious,” Ryan explained, and Spencer simply nodded in response, Ryan never got these things wrong.

Brendon took a moment to take in Ryan’s outfit of the day because it probably one of his favourites. It consisted of a cream coloured button up shirt, a black waistcoat, jeans, a brightly coloured scarf and a bandana wrapped around his head, but it was mostly hidden under his hair. It made Ryan look so pretty, more so than usual anyway.

“You look nice today Ryan,” Brendon said with a smile and felt warm inside when Ryan smiled back.

“Thank you, you don’t look too bad yourself,” Ryan said, and this made Brendon grin before grabbing Ryan’s hand in his own.

“To the warehouses it is then,” Brendon said loudly.

The group then walked in silence for a while as they searched the city for a warehouse district, thinking that they should’ve taken the van instead of walking.

“Hey, did you guys ever find out what Frank and Gerard were talking about?” Spencer asked.

“Nope, we haven’t had the chance,” Brendon replied.

“Is this when you guys were talking to them in van yesterday?” Jon questioned, and Brendon nodded.

“I heard the whole conversation actually,” Jon said, and Brendon raised an eyebrow.

“They were talking pretty quietly Jon, besides, I thought you were asleep?” Brendon pointed out, but Jon shook his head.

“I was pretending, I figured that those two were bound to say something important as Gerard clearly trusts Frank way more than us.”

It was times like this that reminded Brendon why they let Jon into the team in the first place because when Spencer had come to Ryan and himself with a homeless man claiming that he would be a great partner, Brendon had not been convinced. However, Jon had proved himself before solving the current case at the time and ever since then, he had solved almost the same amount as the others despite not being there for the first year.

“Nice work Jon, what did you find out?” Spencer asked, clearly the most impressed.

“I heard Gerard say that he couldn’t go back home and that it was hard because his brother had recently died and so he’s up there and obviously, Gerard can’t ever see him again unless his brother comes down which is difficult to do as you said Ryan the other day and I think he was going to tell Frank why he can’t go back but then you guys started talking so good job,” Jon explained and Brendon couldn’t believe it, this was incredible information and they could’ve had so much if Brendon had just kept his mouth shut.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry Jon,” Brendon said, feeling awful for what he did.

“It’s fine Brendon, you didn’t know,” Jon said, and although Brendon knew that Jon really did forgive him, he still felt terrible.

“Well, it’s definitely more than we had before, now we just need to connect it to Patrick Stump because Gerard being stuck on Earth means it’s less coincidental that he met Stump,” Ryan stated.

“That is true, so let’s make sure Jon’s work doesn’t go to waste and find out Gerard’s true reason for helping Patrick,” Spencer said, and Brendon just nodded.

Eventually they came across a part of the city that appeared to be the warehouse district and they all stood in the centre of it all.

“See anything Ryan?” Brendon asked, seeing that Ryan seemed to be staring at one of the buildings.

Ryan had only ever told Brendon this, but he could see inside places if he focused really hard and had been known to hear thoughts of others, but this was something that Ryan couldn’t control, and it kept him awake some nights.

“I think we should check that one, it’s hiding more than its showing,” Ryan said, pointing to the one in front of them.

“Alright then, let’s go."

The group then entered the warehouse that was filled to the brim with huge crates and Brendon could definitely feel something strange in the air, this wasn’t an ordinary warehouse and the group could all feel it too.

“I noticed that there’s no name on the warehouse, somebody obviously doesn’t want their warehouse to stand out in the slightest,” Ryan said as he wandered down one of the aisles of crates.

“Definitely something going on here, the question is what,” Brendon said, following Ryan down the aisle, looking at the crates that were double his height.

They searched the warehouse for hours, making sure to search every inch of the place before Ryan called out.

“I found something, it’s another one of those portals like the one in that house.”

Brendon, Jon and Spencer made their way over to one of the walls in the warehouse where Ryan was stood with his finger pointing a very faint and incredibly small line that was glowing. They were lucky to have somebody with Ryan’s sight or they definitely would have missed that.

“Holy shit, this has to be it, I can feel it,” Brendon said before realising that they couldn’t open it.

“It may be, but we need Pete if we’re gonna get this open,” Ryan said before looking up at the glass panels in the ceiling.

“It’s getting dark, we should head back and tell them what we found,” Ryan then said before looking at the door.

“We’ve got company.”

The group then rushed around one of the crates, making sure they were out of sight before sighing in relief at the sight of who it was.

“Hey guys,” Brendon greeted as they moved into sight again to see Frank, Gerard and Ray.

“What’re you guys doing here?” Frank asked as they drew closer to Brendon and the group.

“Nice to see you too but Ryan figured that we should check out the warehouses first and he saw that this place was different to the others and after hours of searching, Ryan found another one of those portals like we found before that Gerard was through,” Brendon explained, and Frank glanced at Gerard, who seemed to be taking in his new surroundings, before looking back at Brendon.

“I’m assuming that you can’t open it if you’re just standing around then?” Frank questioned, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, Pete’s the only one that can open it, so I guess if everyone’s here then we should call him and have him, Andy and Joe come to us,” Brendon said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone.

Brendon pulled up Pete’s contact and went to press call but stopped at the sight of Ray, who had placed his hand on the glowing line and was completely silent.

“Everything ok Ray?” Brendon asked before Ray turned around.

“Patrick Stump was definitely here,” Ray said, and Brendon raised an eyebrow.

“How do you know for certain?” Brendon questioned, walking over to Ray.

“I’m a psychic in training and while I’m still learning to get to grips with the whole future part, I can see into the very recent past, a week at maximum, if something triggers it and when I touched the line to see if it held anything, I saw Patrick Stump being dragged through this portal and he put his hand where the line is, so he must have something to do with the portals not closing fully,” Ray explained.

“How long ago was that?” Ryan asked.

“Two days ago,” Ray replied, and this confirmed that Patrick was still there, Brendon knew that this was the one that would take them to Patrick.

“Thank you so much Ray, that’s really helpful,” Brendon said before turning and calling Pete.

Brendon explained to Pete everything and Pete had hung up the moment he had an address and was told that they’d found Patrick’s location.

“Pete’s on his way here so I guess all we need to do is wait and then we can find Patrick Stump and get him home,” Brendon said, and this seemed to bring a new energy to the group, even Frank.

Brendon and the group had been waiting for about ten minutes when Brendon noticed that Frank was absent from the group.

“Hey, did anybody see where Frank went?” Brendon asked, and everybody seemed to look at each other before Jon spoke up.

“He was talking to Gerard last I saw,” Jon replied, and Brendon turned to Gerard.

“He said he was going outside but wouldn’t tell me why,” Gerard explained, Brendon thanked him before heading outside.

What Brendon saw was something that he never thought he’d see. Frank was sat on the floor with a hand to his heart and he seemed to be in pain and Brendon didn’t even know that dead people felt pain.

“Are you ok Frank?” Brendon asked, crouching beside him.

“Do I look ok Brendon?” Frank snapped back, and Brendon just sighed.

“Frank, what happened?” Brendon asked, sitting himself down beside Frank.

“Gerard told me something earlier and I don’t know why but I didn’t like it,” Frank replied.

“What did he say?” Brendon questioned, and Frank sighed before speaking.  
“He said that I can’t tell you this, but I guess you should know, Gerard had been getting Patrick’s help because he’s a sorcerer that specialises in heavenly spells and if he had enough of Gerard’s grace then he could get Gerard back up there and if we find Patrick, he’ll finish his work and Gerard’s gonna be gone and I hate that,” Frank explained, and Brendon couldn’t believe it.

“Holy shit Frank but why are you so upset? You’ve known the guy for less than a week,” Brendon asked.

“I don’t know, he’s done something to me Brendon because my body isn’t cold anymore and now my heart is fucking killing me again,” Frank said before groaning in pain and clutching his chest even harder and Brendon was going to be concerned but then it hit him, and he started to laugh.

“Glad my pain is amusing you Brendon,” Frank said through gritted teeth.

“You fucking idiot, Gerard’s not killing you or doing anything to you that’s bad Frank, you’re just in love with him,” Brendon said, still laughing because he couldn’t believe.

“I am not,” Frank said but this was said quietly, and Brendon just shook his head.

“Sure you’re not Frank, sure you’re not, so once you’re done being a drama queen, I think you should come back inside,” Brendon said, standing back up.

“You’re just gonna leave me while my heart, which shouldn’t be moving by the way, kills me all over again?” Frank said, and Brendon just nodded.

Brendon didn’t know what was happening to Frank, but he knew one thing for certain, he wasn’t going to get much deader. 

Joe’s car then pulled up to warehouse and Brendon waved at them at they all got out of the car and made their wave over to him.

“You’re sure Patrick’s here?” Pete asked once he was close enough.  
“Ray saw a vision from just two days ago and Patrick was getting dragged through that portal and he put his hand where the portal is exposed, does that mean anything?” Brendon asked, making sure he had the facts right, and Pete just grinned.

“He's been leading us right to him this whole time,” Pete said before rushing past Brendon and into the warehouse, Andy and Joe following closely.

Brendon then looked at Frank and smiled.

“See you in there, love bird,” Brendon said before heading inside.

“Fuck you!” Frank yelled as Brendon walked further in.

Things were getting exciting.


	10. Chapter 10

Jon watched as Pete put both hands out like before and two large, green circles appeared again, and Pete began to turn his hands from side to side as he began to crack open the portal.

“I’m feeling so pumped right now,” Brendon said, and Jon noticed that Brendon always got like this when they were close to finishing with a case.

“Why? Nothing’s happening,” Ryan asked.

“Because it’s intense and we’re about to find Patrick Stump and close off another case,” Brendon explained as if it were obvious.

“Right.”

Jon noticed that something seemed to be troubling Ryan and was going to ask but was interrupted by the sound of the warehouse doors slamming shut. Jon then turned to see Frank walking over to group and he looked a lot better.

“Hey drama queen, everything alright now?” Brendon called out to Frank, who just flipped him off before taking his place by Gerard once again.

“What happened out there?” Jon questioned.

Brendon then explained to the three of them the conversation the two had had and Jon was troubled by this along with the others.

“So, this means that Gerard held valuable information from us,” Ryan said, and he did not seem pleased about this.

“Yeah and I’m wondering if Pete and the others knew about Patrick’s meetings with Gerard,” Jon said and while these questions didn’t really change the course of the case, it was still a mystery that the group wanted to get to the bottom of.

“I guess we’ll have to leave this until we’re done here because right now, our only focus is getting Patrick Stump out alive,” Spencer stated, and the group nodded in agreement.

Jon then looked at Pete and saw that the portal had been opened and everybody gathered in front of it.

“Alright, this is it, we get in, we get out and we go home,” Brendon said, and everybody seemed good with this plan.

The group were then about to enter the portal when the warehouse doors swung open to reveal the five demons, who were rushing towards them.

“Hey!” Ben yelled as they drew closer.

“Jump!” Brendon exclaimed, and nobody hesitated in doing so as they all piled inside and into unknown territory.

The next thing Jon knew, he was inside a poorly lit room with Ryan, Pete and Gerard. The rest of the group wasn’t there, and this concerned Jon greatly, the portal shouldn’t have split them up like this, unless somebody knew they were coming and had tampered with it.

“You guys ok?” Jon asked as the others looked around the empty room.

“I’m good,” Pete said with a smile.

“Yeah, thanks Jon,” Ryan replied before seeing Gerard and his face fell.

“Fuck me,” Ryan muttered, and Jon was confused by this sudden hatred.

“Gerard, you ok?” Jon asked again, noticing that Gerard had not replied.

“Oh, yeah, I’m good thanks,” Gerard responded before heading to the door and opening it.

“See anything?” Ryan questioned as he walked over to Gerard.

“There’s two doors and that’s about it,” Gerard said, standing aside to let Jon, Ryan and Pete see.

Jon saw that there were indeed, just two doors and nothing else.

“Well I guess we pick one then,” Jon said as he walked past the three into the small hallway.

Jon looked at the two before deciding on the left one and walking up to it and twisting the doorknob and swinging the door open to reveal another two doors.

“Hey Ryan? Can you check the right door?” Jon asked, turning to see Ryan already doing just that.

“There’s just two more doors,” Ryan said, turning to Jon.

“Interesting, well let’s all open a door each and see which seems the best route,” Jon suggested, and everybody seemed to be on board with that idea.

Everybody then picked a door and opened their own door at the same time. Inside Jon’s door was what appeared to be a cleaning closet and was not going to be any use, so he closed it again.

“Janitors Room,” Jon called out.

“Mine’s empty,” Ryan said, closing his door.

“Empty,” Gerard said as he shut his door.

“Mine looks like some kind of laboratory but I don’t see a door anywhere inside,” Pete said but it was better than everybody else’s and so they opted for Pete’s room.

Jon just hoped that everybody else was ok.

*  
Brendon was not happy when he found that everybody had been split and was even less happy when he found that he was stuck with Frank but on the upside, Spencer with here with him.

“Hey Brendon, I forgot to tell you something earlier,” Frank said as the three wandered down the seemingly never-ending corridor.

“And what is that?” Brendon asked, hoping for more information on Gerard.

“You’re a fucking asshole,” Frank replied, kicking a stone down the hall.

“And why is that?” Brendon questioned, not really caring at this moment in time, he just wanted to find the rest of the group.

“Because you fucking left me out there where I almost died for real you dick,” Frank said, clearly still not over the event.

“Sorry that I thought that it was impossible for a dead person to die again,” Brendon snapped back, he had dealt with Frank for too long to care anymore about being nice to him.

“Whatever,” Frank muttered, and Brendon just sighed.

“You think Jon’s ok?” Spencer then asked out of nowhere.

“Uh why Jon? Everyone else is in just as much danger,” Brendon questioned, not sure why Jon took priority.

“Because he’s Jon, he might not be with Ryan and he’s the only one left that understands Jon, everyone else won’t get him like we do,” Spencer explained.

“You mean everyone else won’t get him like you do?” Brendon corrected, and this seemed to confuse Spencer.

“What do you mean?”

“You and Jon are on a level like Ryan and I are not with him, I mean, you took him off the street, you showed him the ropes, you live with him and you think about him the most, it’s almost romantic if not obsessive,” Brendon explained, and Spencer was silent.

This silence then brought a question to Brendon’s mind that couldn’t go unanswered.

“Wait, do you have a crush on Jon Walker the hippie overlord?” Brendon asked, and Spencer just crossed his arms before replying.

“Why does it matter? Frank’s got a crush on the angel.”

“Shut the fuck up Spencer, at least mines not a hippie,” Frank shot back, clearly not amused by that statement.

“I feel like I’m in some kind of romance slash detective movie,” Brendon stated.

“Shut up!” Frank and Spencer yelled.

Brendon just couldn’t help but smirk.

*  
Ryan didn’t know how long the four of them had been inside the laboratory, but it was definitely too long.

“Hey, there’s a vent up there, maybe we could hop onto the counter there and see where it goes?” Pete suggested, pointing to a vent in the corner of the room but Ryan couldn’t remember seeing it there before.

“I must be going blind,” Ryan murmured before heading over to the counter.

“I’ll go first, I’m the smallest here after all,” Pete said, unusually eagerly, as be climbed the counter and opened the vent.

Pete then clambered into the vent and began to shuffle his way down, Jon then following with Gerard going after and Ryan going last. He really couldn’t remember there being a vent.

The four then made their way through the tight vents until they came to a stop.

“There’s a hallway here, let’s check it out,” Pete said as he pushed open the vent grate, the grate falling to floor with a loud crash, before he jumped out.

The rest of the group then followed and found themselves in a tiny hallway with only one door in front of them.

“I guess we’re going in there,” Ryan said as Jon swung open the door.

The moment everybody was inside, Ryan, Gerard and Jon froze at the sight in front of them.

There was a man that almost fit Patrick Stump’s description except for the missing glasses, blood splattered face and bright yellow eyes.

“What the hell is that?” Ryan asked, not really sure what else to say.

The man seemed extremely hostile and went to advance on the group, but Pete stepped in front of them all from behind.

“Patrick,” Pete said calmly.

Ryan then watched in confusion of the yellow eyes disappeared and turned to blue.

“Took you long enough,” Patrick said as he walked over to Pete and hugged him tightly.

“I told you we’d be here in no time,” Pete said once the two had pulled apart.

“Uh, what the hell is happening here?” Ryan asked as Pete put his arm around Patrick’s waist and had turned to them.

“I may not have been entirely honest with you guys.”


	11. Chapter 11

“Did you know where Patrick was this whole time? Is this some kind of trap?” Jon questioned Pete, but Ryan wasn’t really focused on Pete at the moment, he just couldn’t stop staring at Patrick.

Patrick was staring right back at Ryan and there was something there that unnerved Ryan, and it wasn’t what Ryan had just witnessed, he just couldn’t look away from Patrick and it puzzled Ryan greatly.

“This isn’t a trap and I didn’t know where Patrick was,” Pete replied but this didn’t give them any more light on the situation.

“Then what the hell is going on Pete?” Ryan asked, tearing his eyes away from Patrick, not planning to leave the room until he was satisfied.

“It’s a long story but it started a few days after Patrick went missing.”

*  
 _“I can’t get a handle on his location,” Pete said, opening his eyes._

_Pete, Joe and Andy were all stood in the apartment living room, trying to use Pete’s link with Patrick to pin his location, but there was no luck.  
When two sorcerers were very close and intimate with each other, platonic or romantic, a bond was created that linked the two. This link meant the two could see each other’s location and if they were incredibly close, they could even speak mentally to each other as if they were in front of each other, no matter how far apart they were._

_“What do you mean?” Andy questioned, sitting down in one of the armchairs._

_“Like his location is just fuzzy and it won’t stay put and it’s just a mess Andy, I don’t know what’s happening,” Pete said, his voice distressed as he sat on the sofa and putting his head in his hands._

_“It’s ok, maybe if you relax a little it’ll become clear soon enough,” Joe said, sitting beside Pete and putting his hand on his shoulder in comfort._

_“I can’t relax, Patrick is missing, and we can’t find him, even the cops said he’s just disappeared and gave up and now I can’t even see him.” Pete was not seeing how he could possibly relax._

_“Pete, I’m sure something will turn up soon, nobody just disappears, especially Patrick,” Andy had said, and Pete had just hoped that he was right._

_*_

_Pete had awoken that night to the sound of footsteps in his and Patrick’s room._

_He had sat up to a small figure stood by the window silently and Pete wasn’t sure just how this person had gotten in._

_“Hello?” Pete said, hoping that this stranger was not a threat._

_“Hey,” The figure spoke, and Pete’s eyes had widened at the sound of the voice._

_“Patrick?” Pete asked, thinking that this was a dream._

_The figure turned around to reveal that it was Patrick, and Pete found himself across the room quicker than he thought to do it._

_“How are you here? Where were you? Are you ok?” Pete questioned, the questions falling out of his mouth in one go._

_“I’m not really here Pete, I’m talking to you through our link,” Patrick explained, and while Pete felt his mood drop hearing this, he was just thankful to get to speak to Patrick._

_“I tried finding you through the link but it’s unclear, it’s just a mess,” Pete responded, hoping Patrick would have the answer to his dilemma._

_“The place I’m in is covered in runes and spells to keep it hidden from everybody, I’m only here now because I found a way to temporarily shut it down, but this is the only time it’ll work so we’ve gotta be quick, there isn’t much time.”_

_“Ok, where are you? We’ll come get you,” Pete asked, but Patrick just sighed._

_“I don’t know, but listen, I wrote down an address somewhere because I went to meet somebody, so go there and you’ll fi-shit, someone’s coming,” Patrick said, looking behind him._

_“Wait, what will I find?” Pete questioned, his voice urgent._

_“Promise me you’ll find me, these people are doing unnatural things,” Patrick said and the look in his eyes was pure fear, something Pete had never seen before._

_“I promise, I’ll be there as soon as possible, just hold on,” Pete said, wishing he could be by Patrick’s side that moment._

_“I don’t want to become one of them,” Patrick had said, his eyes filling with tears as he disappeared from Pete._

_Pete had dropped to his knees at the moment, not knowing how to feel. He felt mad at himself for letting this happen, he felt miserable for Patrick, he felt puzzled by the directions and words but most of all, he felt lonely without his one and only._

_“I’m coming Patrick,” Pete whispered to himself before standing up again and beginning to search for the address that Patrick had spoken of._

_Pete had found the address in one of Patrick’s draws and had decided to wait till morning to show Andy and Joe as he assumed that they wouldn’t be very much help at the time._

_*  
The following morning Pete had explained everything to Andy and Joe, who had seemed relieved to hear the news that they had a lead now, and the three had set off that morning to follow the address._

_However, all they had found was yet another address and it was then the three realised that perhaps they were going to need more help if Patrick was being this secretive about his whereabouts._

_“Do you guys know any private detectives?” Pete questioned as he stared down at the address._

_“I have a friend who hired this group of detectives and apparently they’re really good, it could be worth a shot,” Joe replied._

_“Yeah, that would good Joe, we just have to make sure we don’t tell them about Patrick coming to me because they’ll probably think it’s suspicious that we know so much, not many people trust people like us,” Pete said, and Andy and Joe nodded in agreement._

_The three had then got the name of the detectives and their location and Pete went to find them at the bar and their paths crossed._

*  
“And that’s everything,” Pete finished, but Ryan wasn’t pleased yet.

“Explain to me how you knew that Patrick was like this if you only spoke to him once?” Ryan questioned, and Pete glanced at Patrick before looking back at Ryan.

“I didn’t.”

“Then how come you were so calm when you saw him?” Ryan asked, crossing his arms.

“Because he’s still Patrick, it doesn’t matter what he looks like, he’s still the same guy I fell for and nothing will change that,” Pete explained, and this response was sweet but made Ryan feel a lot more on edge because now nobody knew what Patrick had become or what he could do.

“Patrick, would you mind explaining what’s happened to you once we get you out of here?” Ryan asked, and Patrick just nodded before looking at Gerard and his eyes narrowed, a hint of yellow appearing in them briefly, before looking away.

“Alright, back through the vent I guess.”

*  
Brendon didn’t know what he’d done but it didn’t sound good.

The three had been walking for a while when Frank spotted a door at last and of course they rushed inside, hoping to find the rest of the group. They didn’t, but they did find a desk filled with buttons and monitors.  
Brendon had saw a room with a girl and two boys on one screen, a woman with red and black hair on another, a tall, sharp faced man on the next one and then a blank screen that was filled with grey fuzz. None seemed pleased, in fact they were either exhausted or furious looking.

Next thing Brendon had done was lean on the desk and that’s when the alarm sounded. He had leant on a button.

“What did you do you fucking idiot?” Frank asked, appearing beside Brendon.

“I don’t know, I accidently pressed a button I think,” Brendon replied, seeing the monitors go fuzzy.

“Well let’s not stick around to find out,” Spencer said before turning to leave, but the door was blocked.

It was one of the demons that had been chasing them, he seemed tough and was probably the biggest out of the group.

“What the fuck have you done?” He questioned, a look of panic in his eyes.

“Good question,” Brendon said before a portal opened before his eyes.

A few hands appeared and dragged the three through back into the warehouse before closing behind them, leaving the demon behind.

Brendon saw that they were back with the rest of the group and felt even more relieved when he saw Ryan. He rushed over to him and pulled him into a tight hug.

“I thought something had happened to you,” Brendon had said quietly.

“I’m fine Bren, I was worried about you,” Ryan replied, returning the embrace.

“I’m good too, just almost got into a fight with one of the demons before the portal opened,” Brendon said before pulling away from Ryan.

“Anyway, did you guys find anything?” Brendon asked.

“We found Patrick Stump,” Ryan replied before explaining how and what Patrick looked like the first time they saw him.

“Holy shit,” Brendon said, and before he could say anymore, there was a loud thud, and everybody turned to see the shocking sight before their eyes.

Patrick had Gerard pinned against the wall and there was anger in his eyes, which were a bright yellow.

“You made me this way!” Patrick had yelled before Pete and Frank had rushed over.

It had taken all of the two’s strength to pull Patrick off of Gerard, Frank then standing beside Gerard as Patrick’s eyes returned to normal.

Brendon had watched as Patrick’s face turned to one of horror at the realisation of what he had just done. He then broke down and began to sob as Pete pulled him into a tight hug, Brendon just barely hearing Patrick apologising repeatedly.

What had happened to Patrick Stump?


	12. Chapter 12

Brendon was extremely pleased when they returned home safely, it was almost unbelievable that the journey home was peaceful. They had decided to wait a few weeks before hearing the story from Patrick because Brendon felt that Patrick would need time to get used to being home before they hammered him with questions. So, this led to everybody returning to their everyday lives, Frank and Ray went back to the bar, Gerard continued to stay with Frank and had even been seen helping out in the bar on occasion, Jon and Spencer went back to their apartment and did whatever they did, and Brendon and Ryan enjoyed each other’s company as usual.

“You ready to go?” Brendon called as he buttoned up the last button on his shirt in the bedroom.

“Yeah just one second,” Ryan replied from the bathroom.

Brendon and Ryan were getting ready to go out because it was Jon’s birthday that night and they were all going to get food and enjoy a nice night out. He wasn’t dressed in his usual suit, but was instead in jeans, trainers and a cream button up shirt with his hair hanging over his forehead. Jon didn’t like getting dressed up and asked that nobody else do so for the night out, and so they all complied with his one request.

Ryan soon came out the bathroom and Brendon smiled, Ryan looked just as beautiful as usual. He was dressed in the same outfit he’d wore the first day on the investigation, the brown trousers with the brown floral shirt and waistcoat. 

“You look gorgeous as usual,” Brendon said as the two made their way to the front door.

“Thanks, you look nice too,” Ryan replied, a smile appearing on his face.

“I know I say it every day, but it’s true,” Brendon said, coming to a halt, Ryan stopping too.

“It’s fine, I like hearing it because nobody but you has ever told me that,” Ryan said, grabbing Brendon’s hands in his own.

“What did I do to ever deserve you?” Brendon asked, pressing his forehead against Ryan’s.

“I could ask the same question.”

There was a peaceful moment of silence between the two as they stared into each other’s eyes, a sight they never tired of.

“I won’t ever let anything happen to you because I think I would just collapse without you to keep me up,” Brendon said quietly.

“And I won’t ever let anything happen to you because I think I would miss your smile too much,” Ryan said, his voice just as quiet.

Brendon then pressed a small kiss to Ryan’s lips before pulling away with a smile.

“We should probably get going,” Brendon said, and Ryan just nodded before the two made their way out of the apartment and locked the door.

Jon had chosen to go to Alex’s and his friend’s café for his big night and of course the guys there had been delighted to hear this and had made sure to save them their favourite booth by the window.

“Happy birthday Mr Jon Walker, the most chill guy I’ve ever met, may you continue to live the rest of your life like this,” Brendon said, holding up his cup of coffee to Jon, who was sat opposite Brendon and Ryan with Spencer sat beside him.

“Thank you, Brendon,” Jon said before raising his cup and drinking some of his coffee.

“So, got any goals for this year?” Brendon asked, sitting back in the seat and putting his hands behind his head.

“I dunno, maybe a relationship,” Jon said, and Brendon glanced at Spencer before returning to Jon.

“I see, got your eye on anybody in particular?” Brendon questioned, ignoring the look he got from Spencer.

Jon simply shrugged, fidgeting in his seat slightly before responding.

“I don’t know, maybe? I don’t know if it’s worth trying, they’re too good for me,” Jon said, glancing out the window.

“Nobody is too good for you Jon, if anything you’re too good for them,” Spencer said, clearly not going to stand for this being said.

“Thanks Spencer, but trust me, they’re really amazing,” Jon said, and Brendon noticed that Spencer’s face dropped for a moment before a smile appeared on his face.

“No problem, just speaking the truth,” Spencer said, and there was then a brief moment of silence before Ryan spoke up.

“So, did anybody else bother to get Jon something or is it just me?” Ryan asked, and Brendon had a moment of alarm before remembering that Jon’s gift was in his pockets.

“Got mine here,” Brendon said proudly, a smile on his face.

“I have mine,” Spencer said, and Ryan simply nodded before leaning down and putting a small, wrapped box on the table.

“Happy birthday Jon,” Ryan said, pushing the small box across to Jon.

Brendon then placed the small package that he had been carrying in his jeans pocket on the table before Spencer placed an envelope on the table.

“Thank you so much guys,” Jon said before pulling a thoughtful face as he decided which to open first and then going for Ryan’s first.

Jon unwrapped the neatly wrapped box to reveal a beautiful wooden box with carvings of a tree on the top and flowers and grass around the rest of it. 

“Oh my god, this is beautiful Ryan, thank you,” Jon said, clearly fascinated by the detailed designs.

“I thought you could use it to put your most important things in, like for memories and stuff,” Ryan said, with a shrug.

“It’s really amazing,” Jon said before moving onto Brendon’s gift.

Jon opened the little package and shook out the contents to find a small bag of seeds and while Spencer and Ryan raised their eyebrows and shared equally puzzled expressions, Jon’s eyes lit up.

“The tree!” Jon exclaimed, before seeing the confused faces.

“I was talking to Brendon a few weeks ago about wanting a little tree to sit on the balcony in our apartment, but I never got around to it, thank you so much Brendon,” Jon said, and Brendon simply waved it off despite feeling proud that he had clearly won the best gift award because unless Spencer had a million dollars in that envelope, Brendon didn’t see what could possibly top his.

“Ok, last one,” Jon said before picking up the envelope and opening it.

Brendon watched as Jon pulled out what seemed to a photo and his eyes went wide before looking at Spencer.

“You did not,” Jon said, and Spencer just grinned.

“I totally did,” Spencer said, and Jon brought a hand to his head.

“What did you do?” Brendon asked, curious as to what was on that photo to cause such a reaction.

Jon simply showed the photo to Brendon and Ryan and that was when Brendon knew he was beat. The photo was of a beautiful tabby cat asleep in a bed.

“You got me a cat!” Jon practically yelled, causing a few people to look their way.

“You’re always telling me how much you want a cat and I figured it would nice to have one around the apartment to keep it alive,” Spencer said with a slight shrug.

Jon then leant over to Spencer and trapped him in a tight hug, which seemed to surprise Spencer momentarily, before he returned it, a happy smile on his face.

“I can’t believe I lost to a cat,” Brendon murmured, crossing his arms.

“Well, what’s a tree to a cat?” Ryan said, and Brendon wasn’t sure what that meant because he’d never heard the two being compared before and so just decided to remain silent.

Jon eventually released Spencer before finishing his coffee and then staring at the photo for a while.

“You win this time Spencer,” Brendon said, and Spencer just laughed.

“Hey, you always win on Ryan’s birthday,” Spencer pointed out.

“Well duh, I always get Ryan the best presents I can possibly think of.”

The four then spent the next few hours drinking whatever was available and talking away until a figure appeared before them.

“Excuse me?” A female voice said.

The four then looked across the booth to see a young woman stood before them. She had bleach blonde hair and was wearing a pair of black trousers, a black blouse and a long black coat.

“Yes?” Brendon replied, feeling like he had seen the woman somewhere.

“I was wondering if you could tell me the way to the observatory?” The woman asked.

The city had a beautiful observatory on the edge of it on a hill, Brendon always remembered it being the place where he and Ryan went on a date a year before.

Brendon simply nodded and directed the girl to the hill before she thanked him and left the café with two men who seemed to be her age. A thought came to Brendon after seeing the three, but he quickly dismissed it, it was impossible.

“Alright, who wants to head to Frank’s for a few drinks to end the night?” Brendon suggested, trying to erase the thought from his head completely.

It was impossible, right?


	13. Chapter 13

Frank didn’t picture himself asking Gerard out on a date in the living room of his apartment and then finding out that Gerard did not know what a date was and then having to explain it to him through his embarrassment.

“It’s something that two people who like each other do,” Frank said but this seemed to puzzle Gerard even more.

“Why doesn’t everybody else do it then? We all like each other,” Gerard questioned.

“Because it’s a certain kind of like, not like friendship kind of like but not quite love,” Frank said, and he could practically see the cogs turning in Gerard’s mind.

“So, something two people who are interested in each other romantically but not quite fully in love yet?” Gerard asked hesitantly.

“That’s right,” Frank said, and Gerard seemed pleased with himself for figuring it out before he then seemed to have some kind of revelation.

“So, this means that you like me like that?” Gerard questioned, and Frank just wanted to die again.

“…Yes.”

“Oh, well, I’m glad you feel that way because I think I do too if I’ve got this right,” Gerard said, and Frank felt a pang in his heart.

He’d been getting them a lot since they came back home, and he even felt warmth at times and it was scaring Frank. He really had no idea what was happening to him unless Brendon was right and his feelings for Gerard were doing this.

“Wow, so do you want to go on a date with me then?” Frank asked, hoping for a real response this time.

“Yes, I would Frank,” Gerard said, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Great, I know just the place.”

*  
Frank and Gerard waited inside the bar for their ride to show up because Frank did not have a car at that moment in time and so was relying on some old friends of his to take them. 

The place Frank had in mind was a place he’d found on his first night in the city. He’d just been wandering around because he didn’t know what had happened to him except that he had been shot dead and next thing he knew, he was lying somewhere in the outskirts of the city. He had walked for hours until he saw it, the most beautiful spot in the city.

Eventually, there was the sound of a car pulling up outside the bar and Frank stood up, Gerard copying.

“Here’s our ride,” Frank said as the two headed out the door.

“Now these guys are a little crazy, so just bear with them and you’ll be fine,” Frank said to Gerard as they approached the black car which had its top down.

“Frank Iero!” Frank heard a chorus of men yell from the car, making Gerard jump slightly at the sudden outburst.

“Hey guys,” Frank said with a smile.

Their ride for the night was Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool. Frank had met them on his first night in city, they’d found him while he was walking and had offered him a ride home and when he’d explained his situation, they’d explained to him where exactly he was and then offered to let him stay with them until he got himself sorted. They had been great to him and it made Frank a little sad that he didn’t see them as much anymore.

“We missed you man,” Billie said once Frank and Gerard had reached the car.

Billie was dressed in a pair of black trousers, trainers, a black button up shirt, black tie and a grey blazer that had seen better days with sunglasses to finish the look despite it being night. 

Mike was dressed in a similar fashion in white trousers, a peach t-shirt with a longer black blazer and also wore sunglasses for whatever the reason was.

Then Frank saw Tré and thought about questioning what he was seeing, but then remembered who he was talking to and decided to go with it. Tré was wearing a blonde wig, a green sparkly dress with fishnet stockings and high heels complete with some makeup and some pretty realistic breasts. Frank was pretty impressed.

“You guys look great,” Frank said as he got in the back of the car, letting Gerard in first which landed him beside Tré and Frank by the window.

“Thank you,” The three said in sync.

“Gerard, this is Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool,” Frank introduced the three, gesturing to each one and Gerard simply nodded, clearly a little nervous around them but that was expected.

Billie then started the car up again and they drove off into the night at a speed that was probably not in the limit.

“So, you guys out for the night?” Frank asked, wondering why they were all dressed up in such a manner.

“We were but then we kept getting kicked out of places, but then you called, and our night was saved,” Billie replied.

“I see, well I’m glad to be your saviour once again,” Frank said, a smile on his face.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Billie questioned, looking back at Frank in the rear-view mirror, or at least Frank assumed so since Billie’s eyes were hidden under the sunglasses.

“How many times did I keep you guys from getting kicked out of places? I lost count it happened so much.”

“We have grown a little since then Frank, that doesn’t happen to us anymore,” Billie said but Frank just raised an eyebrow.

“You literally just said that you guys kept getting kicked out tonight,” Frank pointed out.

“I think Billie meant that it doesn’t to us as much as it used to,” Mike corrected, and Frank just nodded.

The drive then continued with Billie and Mike talking amongst themselves and Tré talking away to Gerard, who seemed slightly less frightened than he was when the three had first pulled up. It continued like this until there was the sound of a siren.

“Shit, not again,” Billie muttered as he pulled over to the side of the road.

“Quick Tré, use your feminine charms,” Billie said, and it became clear as to why Tré was dressed this way.

Frank then watched as Billie and Tré switched seats, the two clambering over the front seat, Billie landing next to Gerard with a thud. He watched as Tré brushed a few blonde strands out of his face and adjusted his fake breasts as the cop car pulled up behind them and a man got out and made his way over to them.

This cop seemed to be quite tall and it intimidated Frank slightly, but not much of course.

“Evening officer…Weekes,” Tré said, reading the name tag, in his most feminine voice he could manage.

“Do you have any idea how fast you were driving?” Officer Weekes asked, clearly not going to phased by Tré.

“Not fast enough?”

“Nope, you were going twenty over the speed limit and while I am aware this is the outskirts of the city and nobody is around, it’s still against the law,” The officer explained, and Tré nodded.

“Well, you see officer, my husband here is dying,” Tré said, gesturing to Mike, who simply nodded.

“Really? He seems fine to me.”

“He’s dying of heartache I meant, our child is in hospital right now and is dying so we’re trying to get there as fast as possible, aren’t we honey?” Tré lied, putting his hand on Mike’s shoulder and Frank had to use all his might not to laugh at the scowl that had appeared on Billie’s face.

“Yes, our child is dying because they got hit by a trash can that came at her after our neighbour reversed too fast into it, causing it to fly across the street and knock our child out and now she’s dying,” Mike said, and Frank wondered how often they used this story or whether Mike had a very vivid imagination.

“Do you want to be responsible for a child’s death Officer Weekes?” Tré asked, his face and voice deadly serious.

“Well no but-”

“But nothing, if you wish to cause her death then fine, give us a ticket so we won’t be able to pay her medical bills but if not, then I suggest you let us be,” Tré said, and the officer simply apologised, gave them a warning and they were off again.

They soon arrived at their destination and Frank and Gerard got out of the car as Billie and Tré switched seats again.

“Thanks again guys, we’ll have to hang out soon,” Frank said to the three.

“No problem man just be safe you two, the outdoors is not the place for sex,” Billie said before the three waved and drove off at high speed once again.

“Ignore those guys,” Frank said, but found that Gerard wasn’t listening but was facing the other way, staring at where they were, his eyes wide.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Frank asked, turning so he was facing the same direction.

Frank had decided to take Gerard to a spot that was by a cliff that separated them from the sea and it was Frank’s favourite place to be when he wanted to be alone, especially on nights like that one where the moon was shining down on it.

“How did you find this place?” Gerard asked, tearing his eyes away from the view to look at Frank.

“I was just walking around on my first night here since I had no idea where I was, and I just found it,” Frank explained before sitting down on the grass with one leg pulled up and the other flat out, his arms holding himself up.

Gerard then sat beside Frank and crossed his legs before looking at Frank again, his face seeming troubled.

“Did it scare you? Being alone in a place you’d never been in before?” Gerard questioned, clearly thinking of his own situation.

“Not really, I mean I couldn’t feel a thing, so I just walked and walked, not really sure where I was going until Billie and the guys came across me and took me in, that’s when I finally felt like I was wanted,” Frank said, looking ahead at the moon.

“Didn’t you have anybody before you died?” Gerard asked, and Frank just shut his eyes for a moment before speaking.

“I was alone, my parents had died a few years before I did and my friends all left me for reasons I can’t remember, it was just me until I met this girl, she was the only one who understood me, but I can’t remember her name or what she looks like I remember who she was and that she was there for me until I was shot,” Frank explained, he had never told anybody this.

“Do you remember who killed you?” 

“No idea but it could’ve been anybody, I pissed off a lot of people,” Frank replied, and it was true, he just didn’t get along with people by the end of his time.

“My brother died not too long after I did, he was in a car accident with his girlfriend and she was the one to survive it,” Gerard said, and it had surprised Frank at first, but he figured that it was atmosphere in the air that made him feel like telling Frank.

Frank felt almost jealous that his brother died and got to go straight to Heaven while he was stuck in the city, left to wander while all his friends grew older without him.

“How did you die?” Frank questioned, hoping not to sound too abrupt.

“Same way as you, shot dead in the street by some asshole who felt he had the power to choose who lived and who died,” Gerard said, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his head on them.

Frank remained silent for a while before deciding to ask the question that had been on his mind for a while.

“Why can’t you go home? I mean, you could’ve left the minute we saved Patrick and yet, here you are so I’m assuming you’re stuck here,” Frank asked, and Gerard simply sighed before replying.

“Because I was kicked out for who I love,” Gerard said bluntly, and Frank simply nodded as he understood what he meant immediately.

The two sat in a peaceful silence until Frank felt a hand on his and it sent a feeling of warmth straight through Frank.

“I really like you Frank,” Gerard said quietly, and Frank felt his heart start to pound, but this time it didn’t hurt.

“I really like you too Gerard,” Frank said, his voice just as quiet as the two stared into each other’s eyes.

Frank then decided it now or never and leant across and kissed Gerard. He expected Gerard to move away but he didn’t, it was a sweet and passionate kiss that sent warmth through Frank. He never wanted it to end, but of course it had to because while Frank didn’t need air, Gerard did. Frank noticed that the warmth faded the moment they broke apart and it raised the question whether Gerard brought Frank alive in those simple but sweet moments.

Neither said a word as the two sat trying to comprehend how this had happened. Frank simply enjoyed the moment, watching as Gerard’s chest rose and fell as he regained his breath.

“I guess we’re just a couple of outcasts, bound to live on while the rest of the world gets older, but I think I’m ok with that if it’s eternity with you,” Gerard said, moving himself closer to Frank and resting his head on his shoulder.

“Eternity doesn’t sound so bad when you put it like that,” Frank said, laying his head on top of Gerard’s as they watched the moon.

Frank noticed that the sea was awfully calm that night and there wasn’t a trace of a wind despite their location and it brought a strange feeling inside of Frank.

Something wasn’t right.


	14. Chapter 14

Patrick awoke in a cold sweat, his heart pounding and his breathing heavy. He clutched his shirt as he attempted to level his breathing, but nothing was working, he felt trapped and alone in the darkness of the bedroom.

“Patrick?” Pete had said sleepily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

However, Patrick couldn’t speak a word as he gasped for air and that was when Pete seemed to become alert. Pete moved in front of Patrick, like he had done for the past few weeks, and put his hands-on Patrick’s shoulders.

“Hey, it’s ok, focus on me and take deep breaths, in and out like before,” Pete said, keeping eye contact with Patrick.

Patrick managed a nod before staring into Pete’s hazel eyes and he began to feel himself relax as he took slow, deep breaths until his breathing returned to normal. Pete had then smiled at Patrick and that had only relaxed Patrick even more as he laid back down, Pete moving back into the bed beside Patrick once again. Patrick had rolled onto his side to face Pete, who had done the same and smiled.

“Thanks,” Patrick said, feeling bad for waking Pete.

“No problem, it’s what anybody would do,” Pete had said before silence descended upon the two for a moment.

“Was it another nightmare?” Pete had asked, his voice and face serious and Patrick nodded.

Patrick had been having continuous nightmares of that dreadful place he had been held captive and it was causing him to fear sleep and often kept him awake, staring at the sleeping body beside him as a reminder that he’s home and safe with the people he loved until he drifted off into a disturbing sleep.

“Why don’t you ever tell me what happens in the dreams?” Pete questioned, seeming slightly hurt by this.

“Because I can’t bring myself to repeat what happens in them,” Patrick replied, wincing as a flash of a terrible memory came to his mind.

Patrick had not spoken a word about what had happened during his time as a captive because the thought alone caused him to break down. It hurt him deeply knowing that he had been stripped of who he was and made into a monster that nobody understood, not even himself.

“Will you be ok tomorrow?” Pete asked, referring to Brendon and Ryan’s questioning the following morning.

“I don’t know.”

Pete had not said another word after that before pulling Patrick close to his chest and Patrick found himself slipping into a deep sleep to the sound of Pete’s heart. He did not have another nightmare that night.

*  
Patrick had jumped at the sound of the knocking at the apartment door the following morning. Brendon and his partners were here.

He sat on the sofa as he listened to Pete’s footsteps as he went to answer the door, his heart just waiting to burst out of his chest as the nerves increased. He was not ready to have this conversation.

“Good morning Patrick,” Brendon had said, sitting on the armchair to Patrick’s right and Ryan sitting on the arm of that chair.

Patrick then watched as two men, who he had been was Spencer Smith and Jon Walker, sat in a similar position on the other armchair but with Spencer sitting on the chair and Jon on the arm. Pete then came and sat beside Patrick and placed his hand on his thigh and it helped to ease his nerves. Joe and Andy then squashed themselves onto the sofa with Patrick and Pete and everybody was then ready to begin.

“Ok Patrick, we understand this is going to be difficult to talk about but trust us, it’s going to be beneficial for everybody because we want to find out who has been doing these experiments and put a stop to them,” Brendon said, but Patrick knew they’d never really understand.

After Patrick remained silent, Ryan spoke up.

“Let’s start at the beginning, what were you doing the day you were kidnapped?” Ryan asked bluntly.

“I was meeting Gerard, I had been helping him get back into Heaven,” Patrick replied, looking down at his lap.

“Do you know why Gerard can’t go back?”

“He said something about getting kicked out for who he loved,” Patrick explained, not sure why any of this mattered.

“How did you meet Gerard?” Brendon questioned.

“He found me, I don’t know how, he wouldn’t tell me.”

“Alright then, can you explain what happened when you were captured?” Brendon asked.

“I was meeting with Gerard inside this old house that I used to play in as a kid, I started keeping a few important things there as I got older, but anyway, Gerard and I were talking about the process of getting him back when these five demons showed up and neither Gerard or myself could fight back for some reason and they took us and hid us in that place inside the first portal,” Patrick explained, and he noticed that at some point Ryan had pulled out a notebook and pen and was taking notes.

“Right, now can you tell us what happened while you were captive?” Brendon questioned, and it was the one question Patrick feared the most.

Patrick was silent for a moment, his breathing becoming faster at the memories, but then he felt Pete move his hand from his thigh to around waist. He looked up and faced Pete, who had a small smile on his face.

“It’s ok, just take it slow,” Pete had said, and Patrick nodded before facing Brendon and Ryan again.

“I was kept in a dark room and these strange sorcerers spent days either reciting strange spells that I’d never heard of, or they did things to me that I won’t repeat,” Patrick began, remembering how much it all hurt.

“Then I found a way to contact Pete like he explained to you and they found out you guys were on the case and then they moved me, but they left Gerard and were going to come back and get him but obviously you guys got to him first and they sent those demons to get him back,” Patrick continued, he had barely reached the worst of it.

“They then kept me inside that room through the second portal and that’s when the experiments really began, they threw me in this awful chair and held me down and they injected something into me and left, I felt nothing at first but then a few days past and I felt like I was being drained of something.”

“What were you being drained of?” Ryan asked, but this time there was much more caution in his voice, he had clearly grasped just how terrible the experience had been.

It took Patrick a few minutes to respond because he didn’t know if he wanted his friends to hear what had been taken from him.

“My powers…I’m not a sorcerer anymore,” Patrick said quietly, but everybody heard, and he felt Pete’s grip tighten.

“What happened to you after?” Ryan asked after a moment of silence.

“I began to become the thing you saw when you found me."

“They fueled it by sending in people and that monster inside of me took control and slaughtered them,” Patrick continued but he couldn’t take it anymore.

“I don’t know who I am anymore,” Patrick said, feeling the tears rushing to his eyes.

“They took everything from me and made me a fucking monster and nobody gives a shit about monsters,” Patrick sobbed as the tears fell down his face.

That’s when Pete wrapped his other arm around him and pulled Patrick close to his chest as he cried.

“You are not a monster Patrick and I care for you because you mean everything to me, I wouldn’t even be alive without you Patrick, you saved me from myself and monsters do not save people,” Pete said, clearly on the verge of a break down as well, and that made Patrick cry harder.

“We care about you too Patrick, we’re your friends no matter what happens,” Joe said from across the sofa.

Patrick cried into Pete until he couldn’t before pulling away from him and looking at Pete’s face. There were tears in Pete’s eyes as Patrick had suspected but there was also that classic smile on his face that caused a smile to appear on Patrick’s face as well.

“Thank you,” Patrick said, looking at Andy and Joe as well and there was a moment of silence.

“Hey Pete, how did you find Patrick inside the lab?” Brendon asked, breaking the silence.

“The moment I got through the portal, I felt my link reconnected and I just knew where he was, so I guess Patrick still has that,” Pete explained, and it comforted Patrick to know that he was still linked to Pete despite all they had taken from him, they hadn’t taken Pete.

Brendon and Ryan then thanked Patrick before there was the sound of a phone ringing.

“One minute,” Brendon said, reaching into his pocket and pulling it out and bringing it to his ear.

Patrick watched as Brendon’s face turned from a frown to his eyes widening in shock before hanging up and looking at everyone.

“Turn on the news,” Brendon instructed, and Patrick watched as Joe grabbed the remote and switched on the TV in front of the seats and switched the channel to the news.

Patrick’s eyes widened at what he saw. The observatory was burning and there was a group of people stood in front of it and they seemed to be celebrating.

“Oh, come on,” Brendon said, and this caused Patrick to raise an eyebrow.

“What?” Patrick questioned.

“There were others in that facility with you Patrick, and I think I may have let them out by accident,” Brendon explained rather quickly.

“You did what?” Ryan said, his face one of anger.

“It was an accident, Spencer, Frank and myself were in this control room and I leant on the desk and hit a button and I didn’t know what had happened and then you guys pulled me through the portal,” Brendon replied.

Patrick then looked at the screen again and watched as the blonde approached the camera.

“We’re coming for you,” She said before smiling and the feedback cut off.

“What have you released onto us?”


	15. Chapter 15

Brendon had never seen so much organisation in such a short amount of time. The second the video ended everybody got to work with Patrick, Pete, Joe and Andy heading out to the burning observatory in Joe’s car and Brendon, Ryan, Jon and Spencer heading down to Alex’s café because apparently, they had useful information that would help track the escapees down.

“Yeah, I know,” Brendon said over the phone to Frank, who was busy telling Brendon that he was ‘a fucking idiot’ again.

“Look, we’re going to some friends who might have a lead so could you maybe help out a little?” Brendon asked, not really concerned with Frank’s constant line of insults at that moment in time.

“Help out a little? Oh no, I’ve already done my part and I am perfectly content with my life right now,” Frank replied, and before Brendon could continue, there was the sound of Gerard’s voice in the background.

“Why should I?” Frank said to Gerard, and Brendon was hoping that this meant that Gerard was trying to convince Frank to help.

“Ugh fine.”

“Ok, fine, I’ll help,” Frank said, returning to Brendon as if he hadn’t just heard all of that.

“Thanks, now see if you can find out who that girl was on the video,” Brendon said before hanging up, not giving Frank the chance to argue.

Brendon then put his phone into his coat pocket and glanced at Ryan, who was walking silently beside him. Ryan had not said a word to Brendon since the video had ended, he was clearly mad at Brendon like everybody else.

“I’m not mad at you,” Ryan said abruptly, pulling Brendon back from his thoughts.

“You’re not?” Brendon asked, surprised by this statement.

“At first I was, but then I realised you actually did something good,” Ryan replied, and Brendon was puzzled as to how releasing those people was a good thing.

“Care to explain?” Brendon questioned.

“They’re people just like Patrick, they were obviously taken just like him and experimented on and you freed them Bren, you saved them even if this is what they choose to do with their freedom,” Ryan explained, and Brendon felt much better about this situation knowing that he had finally done something good.

“I guess the attack was their way of retaliating against what they’d just been through and clearly they’re going after the people who did this to them,” Ryan said after Brendon had remained silent.

“So maybe if we find them, then we can talk to them and help them in a way that doesn’t involve risking innocent people’s lives,” Brendon suggested, and Ryan simply nodded.

The four then arrived at Alex’s café and headed inside to find Alex behind the counter with Jack sitting on top of the counter. It was empty in the café due to the guys shutting it for the day while Brendon and the group talked.

“Hey guys, take a seat,” Alex said, gesturing to the empty tables.

The four opted for their usual booth seat by the window and Alex and his friend gathered at the end of table, pulling up their own chairs. Brendon recognised the muscular one as Zack Merrick and the final one as Rian Dawson and both were just as friendly as Alex.

“Alright, what did you guys have to tell us?” Brendon asked once everybody was comfortable and ready.

“We found this piece of paper that fell out of that blonde girl’s coat when she left the café the other night and it had this phone number on it, so we decided to call it and some weird guy picked up and said something about regrouping at HQ but we figured we should give you guys the number,” Alex explained, looking at Jack, who reached into his pocket and pulled out the scrap of paper and placed it on the table.

“Maybe you could trace it or something,” Alex suggested, and Brendon simply smiled and nodded.

“Thanks guys, this is gonna be a big help I know it,” Brendon said before deciding to find out if any of the guys had gotten a good look at the two men that had been with the blonde.

They were making good progress so far.

*  
Frank and Gerard stood outside the apartment door that belonged to the solution to their problem. It wasn’t somewhere Frank particularly wanted to be because these people were quite difficult to deal with and could get you wrapped up into things that could end up with you dead if you weren’t careful with your words.

Frank knocked on the apartment door and waited for a while before the door opened to reveal Matt Bellamy. This man was a genius in many areas but also slightly insane if you didn’t know him deep down.   
Matt was wearing a pair of black trousers, a grey t-shirt with a long black coat to complete the look. His hair was a mess like always and he seemed happy to see Frank.

“Frank Iero, it’s been too long,” Matt said, stepping aside to let Frank and Gerard inside before shutting the door behind them.

The apartment was nice, much nicer than his own, and was nicely decorated and was incredibly spacious. Frank could see Matt’s closest friends, Dominic Howard and Chris Wolstenholme, sat on the sofa at the back of the apartment.

“What brings you here today of all days?” Matt asked, sitting in between Chris and Dominic as Gerard and Frank sat on the sofa across from them, and Frank noticed that Matt had been staring at Gerard as if he were searching for something.

“The observatory fire, we want to know who the woman on the video is,” Frank replied, cutting to the chase in hopes of leaving as soon as possible.

“We were actually just doing that, the computers searching for her now actually,” Matt said, pointing to a laptop on the coffee table in between the two sofas.

“Well I guess that’s sorted then,” Frank said, and before he could speak any more, Matt spoke up again.

“So, when did you and this lovely man become a thing? I didn’t think you were looking for a relationship at the moment,” Matt questioned, gesturing to Gerard, who just shifted awkwardly and looked down at his lap.

“Only the other day and why does it matter to you?” Frank responded, he didn’t like telling these guys too much because he didn’t trust what they’d do with personal information.

“I simply wanted to know when you managed to get yourself an angel as your partner.”

Frank then saw Gerard lift his head up immediately and he seemed alarmed.

“How do you know what I am?” Gerard asked.

“Well I can see into your mind,” Matt replied casually before looking down at the laptop and smiling.

“Lyndsey Gunnulfsen is her name, but she prefers Lynn Gunn, and she was last seen by CCTV ten minutes ago with two men going into a store,” Matt said before grabbing a pen and paper from beside the laptop and writing down what appeared to be an address and handed it to Frank.

“Good luck on your quest my friend,” Matt said as Frank thanked him and made his way towards the door with Gerard.

“And Gerard, you should pick your side carefully, man doesn’t stand a chance if what I saw in your head is really out there,” Matt called as they left the apartment.

Those were not comforting words.

*  
The moment Patrick and the others reached the burning observatory, they had begun to help in the search for survivors inside the now doused building while Joe used his full strength to keep the buildings metal structure from collapsing. 

Patrick was the last one inside the observatory and was leaving when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He turned to see a man and a woman stood silently.

The man was tall, definitely over six foot and had short black hair, beautiful blue eyes and a sharp face. He wore black skinny jeans, a black t-shirt and leather jacket to increase his already intimidating look.

The woman had half a head of red hair and half a head of black hair and had red eyes that almost seemed fake and wore black lipstick to match her black eyeliner and faint red eyeshadow. She wore leather trousers which had a pattern cut out of them going down the side of both legs and also wore a black strappy crop top and a black jacket that had fur running around the neck and down the front. 

Neither seemed very trustworthy and so Patrick turned back towards the door and took one step towards the exit before the singed doors slammed shut, causing Patrick to have to face the two strangers again.

“Patrick Stump?” The man asked, his incredibly deep voice giving Patrick more reasons to feel scared by his presence.

“Yes, and you are?” Patrick replied, hoping he sounded as confident as he wanted to.

“I am Andy Biersack,” The man answered.

“And I’m Ashley Costello, but you can just call me Ash,” The woman responded, a wicked smile on her face.

“I see, would you mind telling me what you want with me?” Patrick questioned.

“We came to ask you to join us in our mission to obliterate the filth that turned us into monsters and everybody else who ever did us wrong,” Ash replied, her heels clicking against the floor as she approached Patrick, Andy not far behind.

“I won’t let this thing inside of me out because I don’t think I’ll be able to put it back when I’m done,” Patrick said, thinking back to when he lashed out on Gerard.

“You speak like it’s a separate being when in reality, it’s a part of you that you can control if you learn to,” Andy said, but Patrick was not moved in the slightest.

“What do you mean by everybody else?” Patrick questioned, not sure who was included in that list.

“Our leader has brought it to our attention that we will treated as monsters by everybody else in this city and the outside world no matter what we do, so we intend to take our place above them,” Andy explained, and all Patrick could think of was Pete and what would happen to him if these people succeeded.

“I don’t understand, what have these people ever done to you to make you hate them so much?” Patrick questioned.

“They hurt us Patrick, they hurt you,” Ash said, and Patrick then thought of how miserable his childhood and adolescent years had been due to people’s hatred towards him for being a sorcerer that was different to the rest.

Patrick was silent as Ash stepped closer and placed a tattooed hand with perfectly painted black nails on her chest over her heart and another on Patrick’s heart.

“We are the same Patrick, all of us suffered our whole lives just to suffer again at the hands of mortal men, we are not like them and they will never accept us because we will be killed for our new curses,” Ash said quietly, staring into Patrick’s eyes with true understanding.

“So, will you join us Patrick Stump, or will you burn with the rest of them?”


	16. Chapter 16

Patrick didn’t know what to say. Ash’s words seemed so convincing and part of Patrick wanted to join them, but the other part felt that these people only wanted to use Patrick for the beast inside of him. 

“I can’t, I have people I care about that I don’t want to hurt or see hurt,” Patrick said, hoping that these people would soon leave him be if he was careful with his words and didn’t offend them greatly.

“We are not killing the innocent Patrick, we are simply making sure they all know what happens when they hurt others they see as weak,” Ash said, dropping her hands to her side.

“I’m sorry but I just can’t,” Patrick said, and he was surprised when the two simply nodded and smiled.

“We understand, you still have people that care about you, so we will leave you but please don’t think of us as monsters now that you’ve heard our reasons,” Andy said, and Patrick simply nodded before towards the exit and outside.

He knew that they were hiding their true feelings but was thankful that no blood had been spilled. Patrick then made his way immediately to Pete, who was stood watching Joe keep the building upright.

“Hey, find anything or anyone?” Pete asked, a smile appearing on his face once Patrick was by his side.

This was the moment that Patrick had to decide whether he should tell them what happened. He didn’t know if he could, knowing that he had actually considered joining them. What would they think of him?

“No, there’s nothing left.”

*  
Spencer was stood on the balcony of his and Jon’s apartment as the rain poured, when the cat hopped up onto the wall beside him. Jon had named the cat Dylan and had stated that they were definitely getting more if possible, and this had put a smile on Spencer’s face.

“Hey Dylan,” Spencer said, stroking the tabby cat as it purred contently.

“Is Jon not back then?” Spencer asked the cat, despite him knowing that he wasn’t going to get an answer.

Jon had been gone all day and hadn’t told Spencer where exactly he was going to be. So naturally Spencer was concerned because Jon wasn’t always there and had got himself lost multiple times over the years despite having lived in the city for many years. 

Spencer then saw the pot on the other side of him and decided to give it a bit of a kick start. Jon had been rambling on for weeks about how he couldn’t wait for the tree to grow and so, Spencer decided to help it out. He placed his free hand on top of the dirt and shut his eyes and he felt that same strange sensation go through his hand and then leave it. He then opened his eyes and moved his hands and he watched as the sapling emerged only slightly above the dirt, but it was enough. 

There was then the sound of the apartment door shutting and then the sound of Jon’s flip flops slapping against the floor.

“Spence?” Jon called out from inside.

“Out here!” Spencer yelled, and then Jon appeared beside him in a matter of moments.

“How was your trip out?” Spencer asked as Jon leant on the balcony wall and began to stroke Dylan, who clearly appreciated all the attention he was getting.

“It was good, I got some investigating done and confirmed some of my suspicions,” Jon replied, which caused Spencer to raise an eyebrow.

“What suspicions?”

“A few days ago, I felt an angelic presence appear close by and I just assumed that maybe it was just Gerard’s, but today I confirmed that it’s not,” Jon explained, and Spencer had no idea Jon could sense those things.

“There’s another angel in this city?” Spencer questioned, and Jon nodded.

“I was tracking them down today and I found that they've been living at somebody’s house for a while which means that unlike Gerard, they remember things from their past life that isn’t just their death.”

“Wow, do you want to talk to this angel then?” Spencer asked, assuming that this was Jon’s reason for spending a day devoted to tracking their location.

“I wanna go tomorrow while Brendon and Ryan trace that phone number,” Jon replied, and Spencer took it as an opportunity to spend some more time with Jon on the job.

“Hey, is it alright if I come with? I’ve got nothing else to do.” Spencer asked, and Jon smiled at this.

“Sure, two’s better than one, right?” Jon replied, and that brought a smile to Spencer’s face.

The two then stood in silence, just watching the city and the people rushing to get into cover.

“Hey, remember when you told Brendon that you had your eye on someone?” Spencer said, and Jon simply nodded.

“Who is it? I couldn’t think of anybody that you were close with apart from Brendon and Ryan,” Spencer questioned, hoping to find out who was to have Jon’s heart.

“You know them, very well in fact,” Jon said, but Spencer was still confused.

“He’s smart, funny and is probably the only guy to have complete faith in me,” Jon continued, and part of Spencer felt hopeful for the answer.

“He also took me off the street,” Jon said, turning to Spencer.

“Know him yet?” 

“Me?” Spencer said, despite it being obvious.

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Jon said with a laugh.

They didn’t need a kiss like most to seal it, Jon just simply placed his hand on top of Spencer’s and they continued to watch the rain pour with Dylan sitting between the two.

It was almost hard to believe that chaos was about to ensue.

*  
Brendon and Ryan were incredibly happy when they finally got an answer from the mysterious number as they had been calling for hours but had had no luck until then. They were stood in the kitchen of their apartment at the time.

“Lynn, come to the Viper Room at midnight tonight, we will discuss our next move there,” An incredibly deep voice said before hanging up.

“Wow, that guy has a deep voice,” Brendon said, and Ryan just sighed.

“It’s clearly been edited, most likely an automatic message and since they knew it was her, we can assume this number is only for her,” Ryan said.

Brendon always felt so idiotic when he was working with Ryan alone. There seemed to be this line inside Ryan’s head where he was one person at home and another at work and it was difficult to differ between the two sometimes. Brendon decided to remain silent until Ryan spoke again.

“Wanna head down now? It’s just after eleven so we should make it,” Ryan asked, and Brendon nodded before heading into the bedroom to grab his coat.

When he came out he found Ryan stood by the door and he seemed troubled and upset.

“Everything alright?” Brendon questioned, putting a hand on Ryan’s arm.

“I’m sorry,” Ryan said, causing to Brendon to pull a puzzled face.

“For what?” Brendon questioned, not sure what he’d done.

“For making you feel like an idiot at work.”

Brendon could only assume that Ryan had seen his true feelings in his silence.

“It’s fine, I’m not that smart anyway,” Brendon said with a shrug.

“That’s not true, you’re really smart Brendon and I’m constantly putting you down because it never seems right at first but then I think about it and realise you were right and I feel like shit, so don’t you dare say you’re not that smart because you’re the smartest guy I’ve ever met Brendon Urie,” Ryan said, and Brendon could’ve swore he saw some tears in Ryan’s eyes, which told Brendon that this was no lie.

“Thank you but don’t go putting yourself down either because you’re probably the smartest guy that I’ve ever met,” Brendon said, before looking at the clock on the wall.

“Now, let’s get down to that club and bust those guys,” Brendon said with a grin, which caused Ryan to smile before they left the apartment together.

*  
The Viper Room was a new club that was the one place that everybody wanted to be and thankfully, Brendon was friends with Alex who was good friends with the owner and so, they got inside with no problem with a couple of phone calls.

The club was loud and lit up with neon lights everywhere. People were constantly flooding in and out and it was a good thing that Brendon had hold of Ryan’s hand otherwise he feared they’d lose each other.

“Alright, it’s midnight, do you see her anywhere?” Brendon asked, his voice loud to cut over the music.

Ryan looked about the room before stopping suddenly and that meant that he had found her.

“She’s over there in the corner with those two guys, but she seems to be searching for somebody too,” Ryan yelled, pointing across the club.

“I see her, let’s head over,” Brendon said, and Ryan nodded before the two started to make their way through the crowd.

However, Brendon knocked into a man on the way over, causing him to let go of Ryan’s hand, and before Brendon could apologise, he was face to face with a pair of red eyes.

“I found you.”


	17. Chapter 17

Brendon wasn’t entirely sure what was happening when he was led into a room at the back of the club by the man with the red eyes. He hadn’t seen Ryan since their hands had broken apart and he was worried as to what had happened to him and whether he knew where Brendon was.

The room Brendon was in was red due to the neon lights that ran along the corners of it and was decorated with a few sofas and armchairs as well as a table with a few glasses and some kind of liquid in a bottle. 

“Who are you?” Brendon asked, deciding to the be the first to break the silence.

The man simply smiled at Brendon and at this point Brendon decided to take in his full appearance. He wore black skinny jeans, a black t-shirt and what appeared to be a black and pink floral kimono. This man seemed to really like black and it reminded Brendon of Frank. He also noticed black around the man’s neck and covering his hands and part of his arms that were just out of reach of his few tattoos.

“I’m Tyler Joseph,” The man replied but this didn’t give Brendon much.

“And why were you looking for me?” Brendon questioned.

“Because you saved my friends and I, so it’s only natural I would want to thank our savior, so thank you Brendon Urie.”

“Um you’re welcome I guess, but how did you know I released you and how do you know my name?” Brendon had a lot of questions in his head, too many to count.

“I see a lot of things Brendon, seeing into the control room wasn’t anything special, and I know your name because I know some people who are very good at finding other people and everything about them,” Tyler explained, and Brendon nodded before noticing another presence close behind him.

“That’s Josh,” Tyler said, gesturing to behind Brendon.

Another man with red hair walked past Brendon and stood beside Tyler. He had a nose piercing as well as pierced ears and he wore black skinny jeans, a black shirt and a black jacket as well as a backwards baseball cap. Brendon also noticed that his eyes had red rings around them and it was difficult to tell whether it was makeup or not. 

“Now Brendon, we were wondering if you would like to join us in our mission to cleanse the world of hatred?” Tyler asked as if he were asking Brendon to hang out on a regular day.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“My friends and I were subjected to some awful experiments as you saw Patrick Stump had been through and we want to find the people who did this to us and put a stop to their crimes against those of us who were deemed as in need of improvement,” Tyler explained, and Brendon thought that maybe these people weren’t as bad as they had led on and that the observatory was just their outlet as Ryan had suggested.

“I was hoping to do that myself so of course I’d like to help you, in fact, all my friends would help stop those people,” Brendon said, a feeling of relief rushing through him that he didn’t have to worry.

“Excellent, then I trust you’ll help us put everyone else, who is filled with hatred like theirs, in their place beneath us?” Tyler said, a smile on his face.

“What do you mean?” Brendon asked, sensing his relief fading already.

“There are people out there who are against some creatures in this corrupt city, those discriminated against live on nothing and nothing is done about it, but it’s because they are the powerful and people don’t like what they can’t control, and you’ve seen those homes Brendon, I know you have because you went their when you found that angel,” Tyler responded, and suddenly Brendon wished he wasn’t alone with these men.

“Not everyone is like that Tyler,” Brendon said, trying to reason.

“But they are, some way or another, and you know it because they must be if this city is non-existent to the outside world, they are afraid of us and so we live here in fear of what will happen if they catch us when it should be the other way.” 

“I’m sorry Tyler, but I can’t be a part of that,” Brendon said, and to his surprise, Tyler simply nodded.

“Here’s my address, come tomorrow night at ten and we’ll talk more, and bring your friends…all of them,” Tyler said before handing Brendon a piece of card that appeared out of nowhere.

“Hey, where’s Ryan? The guy I came with,” Brendon questioned, hoping he was safe.

“He awaits you outside the room, and Brendon, wear something warm tomorrow, I have a feeling it’s going to snow,” Tyler replied.

Brendon went to speak but then the lights flickered, and they were gone.

The second they were gone Brendon rushed out the room and back into the loud club. He found Ryan stood just outside as Tyler said and he immediately embraced him in a tight hug.

“Their planning something terrible Ryan, we have to stop them,” Brendon said before explaining everything to him.

“Let me see the address,” Ryan said once he knew everything.

Brendon then handed Ryan the paper and he watched as Ryan scanned the paper.

“This looks like a regular address, I think it’s an apartment block,” Ryan said before handing Brendon the paper back.

“Well we can’t do anything until tomorrow night, so I guess we head back and see what everybody else found out,” Brendon said, and Ryan nodded before they made their way out the club and into the night.

*  
“Hey, guess what day it is?” Pete asked Patrick as the two lay together on the sofa, the TV being the only light source.

Joe and Andy had gone to sleep hours ago but Patrick couldn’t sleep so they decided to sit together until he could.

“Uh, Friday?” Patrick said, clearly confused by the question.

“Yeah, but it’s a special Friday,” Pete said, smiling at Patrick as he looked up at Pete as he was laid across his lap.

“I really don’t know Pete, what day is it?”

“It’s Christmas my dear Patrick,” Pete said, and Patrick’s eyes widened.

“Oh my god, I forgot your gift,” Patrick said, sitting up immediately and facing Pete.

“You’ve been recovering Patrick, I doubt it was the first thing on your mind.”

“I should have remembered this, I’m so sorry Pete, I promise I’ll make it up to you,” Patrick said, clearly greatly upset by his simple mistake.

“Hey, you don’t have to do anything Patrick, having you back home is the best gift I could ask for, now let me give you your gift from me,” Pete said before standing up and heading into their bedroom.

Once in the room Pete opened his sock draw in his chest of draws and pulled out the wrapped gift that he spent all year making. He then returned to the living room and sat on the sofa once again.

“Merry Christmas Patrick, I hope you like it,” Pete said before handing Patrick the wrapped package.

Patrick looked at Pete for a moment before focusing on the gift as he began to unwrap it. 

Pete would never forget the look on Patrick’s face once he had torn all the paper off to reveal the red leather-bound photo album which had the word’s ‘In the end, I’d do it all again’ carved into the front in gold.  
He then watched as Patrick opened the album where Pete had compiled every photo of Patrick and himself that he could find with dates, locations, quotes and drawings surrounding them. Patrick put a hand to his mouth as he flipped through the pages in silence until Pete saw tears appear in his eyes.

“I don’t deserve you,” Patrick said before reaching across and hugging Pete tightly.

“I don’t deserve you Patrick,” Pete said as he returned to embrace.

“I would argue but I have a feeling that it wouldn’t go anywhere,” Patrick said with a little laugh as he pulled back.

“It really wouldn’t,” Pete said before the two shared a kiss.

It those moments that made Pete forget about everything that was going on outside. Patrick meant everything to him and he would die before anything else would happen to him.

That was something he was sure of.

*  
Gerard was wide awake when he heard the sound of a light thud coming from the apartment. He was currently lying beside Frank in his bed at the time and since Frank was asleep, he decided to investigate it himself.

The apartment was dark, so Gerard immediately switched on the light. He found the apartment empty but there was the sound of small footsteps approaching and this frightened Gerard slightly, was there a ghost?   
He looked around but could not see a thing until he heard the breathing from behind him. Gerard quickly turned to find nothing, until he looked down and found the culprit. It was Sweetpea, Frank’s peculiar little dog.

“You scared me Sweetpea, what were you doing?” Gerard asked before realising he wouldn’t get a response and picked up the small dog.

“You wanna come sleep with us? It’s a lot comfier in there, trust me,” Gerard said as he carried her in anyway.

When Gerard re-entered the room he found the woman, who he believed to be Lynn, sat on the end of the bed, watching Frank.

“What will you do when he’s gone?” She asked, turning to Gerard.

“What do you mean? He can’t die,” Gerard questioned as she stood up.

“Don’t you know what you’re doing to him?” 

“I’m not doing anything to Frank,” Gerard stated, thoroughly confused as to what Lynn was saying.

“You are loving him Gerard, and do you know what love does to a dead man?” 

Gerard shook his head to this question before placing Sweetpea down on the floor.

“You are bringing him back to life Gerard, and when he is alive, he is mortal and so will die like the rest…like she did,” Lynn explained, saying the last part quietly.

“I don’t believe you,” Gerard said, fearing her words to be true.

“I loved a woman like him once and because I loved her, she turned mortal, but she was much older than this man and so her true age showed, and she died not long after, and the same will happen to him but in time,” Lynn said before stepping closer to Gerard.

“But I can stop it, my curse has given me control over things you can’t imagine so if you join us then I will save you from this fate, do you accept?”


	18. Chapter 18

Spencer and Jon had ventured out during the day to visit this mysterious angel that had arrived. They took a taxi to the small house on the outskirts of the city and Spencer liked how friendly the neighbourhood appeared to be. There were kids playing and parents talking as the sun shone down on them, unnatural weather for Christmas day.

“Weird weather for Christmas day,” Spencer pointed out as they got out the taxi and made their way up to the door.

“Too bad we’ll be inside for most of it,” Jon said as they stopped in front of the door and knocked.

They waited a few minutes before the door swung open to reveal a small woman, who wore the biggest smile that Spencer had ever seen on someone. She had dark brown hair, blue eyes and wore a black blouse, jeans, an apron and slippers.

“Hi, Jon Walker, right?” The woman greeted cheerfully.

“Correct, and this is my partner Spencer, thanks for having us today,” Jon said, a smile on his own face.

“Well I’m Kristin so come in, I’m just baking so excuse the mess,” Kristin said, beckoning the two inside before shutting the door.

She then rushed into the kitchen as Spencer and Jon went into the living room and took a seat on the sofa.

“She’s definitely what you’d expect from angel,” Spencer stated, but Jon just shook his head.

“Kristin isn’t the angel,” Jon said as Kristin entered the living room with a tray of hot drinks, offering them to Spencer and Jon, who of course had to accept.

“I’ll go get him,” Kristin then said before rushing out the room and returning just as fast and sitting herself on the other sofa by the door.

There was then the sound of footsteps approaching until a tall man appeared in the doorway. He looked familiar to Spencer for some reason. The man wore black skinny jeans, a black t-shirt and a long black cardigan of some sort as well as a baseball cap and glasses.

“This is Jon and Spencer, the men that wanted to talk to you Mikey,” Kristin introduced the two, gesturing to Spencer and Jon.

“Hi,” Mikey said with a small wave before sitting beside Kristin.

“Mikey, Spencer and I are detectives and we’re investigating the people behind the observatory attack and we were just curious as to whether you were doing the same considering you are not from here,” Jon explained, and Spencer watched as Mikey looked at the two before turning to Kristin.

“Do you mind giving us a minute Kristin?” Mikey asked Kristin, who seemed to understand and nodded.

“I’ll go check on the food,” Kristin said before kissing Mikey on the cheek and leaving the room.

“I’m here because of my stupid brother and some other stuff,” Mikey said, crossing his arms and this caused something to click in Spencer.

“Gerard Way?” Spencer questioned, realising why he seemed so familiar.

“Yeah, him.”

“What did he do that caused you to come down here?” Jon asked, leaning forward.

“He got kicked out of Heaven by God because he likes dudes and now he’s gotten himself into this mess with you guys and he’s going to get himself killed,” Mikey explained, and Spencer decided not to question how he knew about their group and what they were doing.

“God kicked him out for being gay? I didn’t think he was like that,” Jon said, clearly troubled by this.

“Neither did I but some higher angels showed up one day and said that it was law and that God had said that Gerard was to be thrown out, like seriously, they threw him off and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it,” Mikey replied.

“How come Gerard will get himself killed? He should be pretty hard to kill being a powerful angel, right?” Spencer then questioned, finding himself leaning forward too.

“He never trained to use his powers because he had to be all Gerard about it, saying stuff like ‘if we condone violence, are we any better than the demons?’ and so never learned and decided to read about stuff instead of actually learning to use the stuff he read about.”  
“Are you aware of where he is right now?” Spencer asked, and Mikey just shook his head.

 

“I’ve been looking for months up there but something was blocking my sight, so now I’m here and I still can’t find him.”

“Well, we know where he is, and we can take you to him if you agree to help us,” Jon said, and Spencer wasn’t sure whether it was smart to make offers to a heavenly being who could smite them at any second.  
Mikey thought for a few moments before nodding and standing up.

“Deal, let’s go,” Mikey said, and Jon and Spencer rose from their seats and the three exited the living room.

Out in the corridor, Spencer could see Kristin sprinkling chocolate flakes across a cake with one hand and was holding a baby on her hip with the free arm.

“Kristin, we’re just gonna go see Gerard,” Mikey said to Kristin, who turned to the three with a smile before walking up to Mikey.

“You’ll be back in time for dinner, right?” Kristin said, and Mikey just nodded before kissing the baby’s head and then Kristin before waving goodbye and then three left the house.

They then called a taxi and got into the back together once it arrived before telling the driver the address and they were off.

“Is that your child?” Jon asked after silence had fallen upon them.

“Yeah, her names Rowan,” Mikey replied, staring out the window.

“I guess she’s the ‘other stuff’ you came down for?” 

“Yep, I come down for a week every month but I’m working on staying permanently without getting myself kicked out."

“When was she born?” Spencer questioned, curious as to whether this happened before or after his death.

“A few weeks before I died.”

Silence then fell once again as Spencer sensed that Mikey wasn’t in the mood for talking about this part of his life.

Soon enough they arrived outside of Frank’s bar, which was closed due to the day. The three then got out the taxi and walked up the stairs to the apartment above and Spencer knocked on the door.  
They waited a long time before the door opened to reveal Frank, who seemed rather pale in the face and had faint red circles around his eyes as if he’d been crying, which shocked Spencer greatly.

“What?” Frank said, clearly not amused by their presence.

“We were wondering if we could speak to Gerard, somebody important is here to see him,” Spencer explained, and Frank was silent for a moment as he stared at Spencer and Jon.

“Who are you?” Frank questioned, and Spencer couldn’t believe it.

“Spencer Smith and Jon Walker, we helped save Patrick, ring a bell?” 

“Oh yeah, you guys.”

“So, can we see him?” Spencer asked again after Frank was silent.

“I guess, it’s not up to me who he speaks to,” Frank said before letting the three in and shutting it behind them.

“He’s in the bedroom drawing I think,” Frank told the three, pointing to a door across the living room area.

Frank then made his way over to the bedroom door and knocked before opening it as the three sat themselves on a seat in the living room.

“Some of Brendon’s guys and a tall guy are here to talk to you,” Frank said before stepping back.

Gerard emerged from the bedroom seeming perfectly happy and smiled at Frank, who seemed to not notice this. Spencer then watched as Frank made his way to the front door and grabbed a jacket off the coat rack that stood beside it.

“I’m going outside, I need some air,” Frank said before leaving the apartment without another word.

Spencer then watched as Gerard frowned at this before turning to the three and looking at Spencer and then Jon and then his eyes landed on Mikey and they went wide.

“Mikey?” Gerard said, and Mikey just nodded before Gerard rushed over to Mikey, who stood up to greet his brother properly, and hugged him tightly.

“I missed you,” Gerard said as Mikey returned the hug awkwardly.

“I missed you too, but we need to talk.”

*  
Ray had come to see Frank to give him his Christmas gift like he did every year because Frank usually spent Christmas alone, which always pained Ray to know.

He arrived just after lunch and was not expecting to find Frank sat at the bottom of the stairs that led up to his apartment. Ray noticed that Frank had buried his head in his arms, which were wrapped around his knees. Ray then got out of his car as fast as he could manage before rushing over to Frank and sitting beside him on the step.

“Everything ok Frank? You look upset,” Ray asked, a look of worry on his face.

Frank raised his head to reveal a river of tears falling down his face and the distinct red rings around his eyes told Ray that he had been crying for a long time.

“No, everything is not ok Ray,” Frank said in a choked voice, the tears not ceasing in the slightest.

“What happened?” Ray questioned, putting an arm around Frank’s back.

“I died Ray, and then I came back in the worst way possible just to fall in love and find out that he’s going to help some crazy people, so we can be together without the other suffering,” Frank said before breaking down into a sobbing fit.

Ray was silent while he processed it all and rubbed Frank’s back comfortingly in an attempt to calm him down.

“What did Gerard do?” Ray asked, hoping to a get a better answer.

“I heard him talking to somebody in our room last night and she was saying that I’m going to come back to life because of his love for me and that I’m gonna be mortal and die like everybody else, and then she offered Gerard a deal that if he helped her and her crazy friends do something awful, then she’d take away the mortal part of me when I came back alive so we’d be able to stay together, and he said that he’d consider it,” Frank explained in between his sobs.

Ray wasn’t really sure how to respond and so went with silence as Frank’s sobs ceased.

“Maybe you should talk to Gerard because I’m assuming you haven’t told him that you know?” Ray suggested.

“How am I supposed to do that Ray? Am I supposed to just walk up to him and say, ‘I heard you consider helping those nutcases last night, what’s up with that?’” Frank questioned.

“Exactly.”


	19. Chapter 19

Brendon had made sure to inform every one of their mysterious invite to Tyler’s group’s hideout and they had all agreed to come along in case it went south because they would need all the help they could get if it did. He had also asked for a full report on everybody’s findings, even if it was the smallest of clues.

From Jon and Spencer, he had learned that they had found Gerard’s brother, who had agreed to help them in return for Gerard’s location. They also explained that Mikey had spoken to Gerard about the fact that he was no fighter and would get himself killed if he continued to help, but Gerard had refused to let them all go ahead without him and so they could still depend on whatever help they could get from him. 

Frank had informed Brendon of his and Gerard’s visit to some old friends, who had given them Lynn’s full name and last location. He also explained that by the time Frank and Gerard got to that location, she was gone. Brendon had given Ryan the full name, so they could find out everything about her. 

Patrick had told them that there were no casualties fortunately at the observatory and that there was no trace of the group that had done it. However, Ryan had sensed a lie but did not call Patrick out on it for the moment and said that he’d confront him at some point soon.

Brendon was happy with the results but not with what was to follow that night. Ryan and himself had made sure to leave the apartment armed and had advised everyone else to do the same before they began to make their way to the address. 

The apartment building they were heading to was close by and that made Brendon feel twice as anxious as the thought of these dangerous people being so close was not comforting.

They were the first ones there, but they were early and so stood by the doors to the building as flakes of snow began to fall. There was a stillness in the air that put Brendon on edge, the city was never quiet or frozen, it was as if everybody knew what was happening and was quiet to listen in on the event.

“How long have we been doing this?” Ryan asked, breaking the silence, much to Brendon’s delight.

“Nine years, I remember because we decided to do this exactly a year after we met,” Brendon replied, smiling at the memory.

“I’m ready to quit after this one Bren,” Ryan stated, and it caught Brendon off at first but then he processed just how long it really had been.

“It has been a long time, hasn’t it?” Brendon said, looking at Ryan, who was staring out across the street at a couple walking with a little girl in between them.

“It has, but that’s not the reason,” Ryan said before reaching into a trouser pocket and pulling out a cigarette and a lighter.

“What is it then?” Brendon questioned as Ryan lit his cigarette and placed the lighter back into his pocket.

“I’m tired Bren,” Ryan said, taking a drag from the cigarette and blowing the smoke out into the cold night.

“I want to be better than this, I want to stop smoking, I want to get more sleep and I want to have a job where I don’t have to worry about seeing things that will keep me up…I want to be with you and have something that isn’t just us crashing out at stupid times or talking about the job, I want something better,” Ryan explained, and Brendon had no idea that Ryan was unhappy with how their relationship was.

“How long have you felt like this?” Brendon asked, staring at the floor.

“Since we started this case.”

“I’m sorry for giving you such a shitty relationship,” Brendon murmured, but he wasn’t sure why he blamed himself when Ryan never said that, in fact the blame was the job, but Brendon felt like he had done something terrible for not noticing.

“You haven’t done anything Brendon, it’s this job, this city, this ‘gift’ of mine that’s made this mess,” Ryan said, and Brendon looked up to see that Ryan had almost finished the cigarette already.

“I know.”

“What do you want?” Ryan questioned as he dropped the finished cigarette and stamped it out.

“I want to stop doubting myself when I know I’m better than this, I want to do something that I truly connect with and won’t put me in danger and I want us to go further together,” Brendon replied, turning to Ryan.  
Ryan didn’t say another word to Brendon but instead embraced him in a comforting hug. It was nice, and Brendon felt like a weight, that he didn’t even know of, had been lifted. They then parted and looked at each other, smiles appearing on their faces.

“To our new life,” Brendon said, grabbing Ryan’s hands.

“To our new life,” Ryan repeated, and Brendon leant in and kissed him.

Eventually, the rest of the group arrived just in time for them to go inside the apartment block, which was clearly abandoned due to the lack of light and life.  
Brendon noticed that Spencer and Jon had brought Mikey Way with them and he seemed extremely unamused to be here. He also noticed that Frank was quieter than usual, but Gerard didn’t seem to have changed and so Brendon assumed that this was an extremely private matter. Then he noticed that Patrick seemed to be extremely anxious, grasping Pete’s hand with what seemed to be a death grip.

“Are we all ready?” Brendon asked, wondering if anybody would speak their mind.

There were a few nods, but overall, there was only silence. This caused Brendon to sigh before trying again in a different way.

“You guys ready?” Brendon asked again, but directly at Patrick, Pete, Andy and Joe.

“Ready whenever you are,” Pete replied, Joe and Andy nodding in agreement and they seemed true enough, except for Patrick.

“And you?” 

“Uh yeah,” Patrick responded, clearly trying his best to avoid eye contact.

“What about you guys?” Brendon asked, but looking at Ray, Gerard, Frank and Mikey.

“I was ready the minute I got down here,” Mikey muttered in response, crossing his arms.

“I’m good to go,” Ray replied, a smile on his face.

“I’m ready too,” Gerard said, but there was something there that said otherwise.

Brendon watched as Frank only nodded in response again and Brendon decided that he should say something.

“Really? Because some of you definitely aren’t, so I think I need to remind you what we are dealing with tonight,” Brendon began, folding his arms in hopes of looking sterner that way.

“There is a group of incredibly lost and hurt people in there, they are angry and have had their minds twisted to the point that they don’t know what else to do other than destroy because they have been cursed and made into something they do not understand and we need to help them, so I suggest if you can’t pull yourself together for that, then do it for the people you care most about because if we fail, they will be in danger and may face death, now, I’m going to ask once more, are you ready?” Brendon said, and this time he got determined expression in return and he knew it was time.

“Alright, let’s go in and face them,” Brendon said before the group entered the apartment block.

The building was silent as they made their way through the empty halls and up the stairs. Brendon noticed that it became gradually colder the further they went up and that left an unsettling feeling inside of him.  
They soon reached the top of the building and found themselves in an incomplete floor. It was completely empty, not even any walls to make up the apartments. It was a dark and empty space, the only light coming from outside. Brendon then felt something touch his cheek, something light and cold. Brendon watched in amazement as the snow began to fall down in the room despite there being a roof over their heads and the closed windows.

“How is this happening?” Ray asked, but nobody had an answer.

The ground then began to feel as if it were shaking and then there was stillness again, but now they were faced with Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. They were dressed differently this time with Tyler being in black skinny jeans, a white coat, black boots, gloves and a red beanie. Josh was also wearing something similar as he too wore black jeans, a white coat, black boots, gloves but instead of a beanie, he wore a red scarf that was pulled up over his mouth.

“I told you guys to wrap up because it was gonna snow,” Tyler said, putting his hands in his coat pockets.

“I didn’t think you meant inside,” Brendon said, hoping that they would get to point of the meeting soon.

“That’s in the past now, so let’s get down to business.”

Brendon then watched as the rest of Tyler’s group appeared out of thin air.

“Let me introduce everyone, this is Ash Costello and Andy Biersack,” Tyler said, gesturing to the woman with red and black hair and the tall man stood to his left.

“And this is Lynn Gunn, Alex Babinski and Brian Macdonald,” Tyler then said, gesturing to the people on his right.

“And to those of you who don’t know me, I’m Tyler Joseph and this is Josh Dun.”

“Now, I’ve called you here tonight to offer you all in person the chance the join my friends and I in our quest to take our rightful places,” Tyler said, but nobody spoke.

This caused Tyler to sigh before he made his way over to Gerard, who took a step back in response.

“An angel of the lord, how strange, I lost faith in your existence long ago, I mean I spent so long praying for help, but nobody came and yet, here you are Gerard Way,” Tyler said, and Brendon noticed a change in Tyler’s voice, there was anger there but he hid it well.

“There are so many people Tyler, we can’t help everybody even if we wanted to,” Gerard said, trying to reason.

“I thought God was all powerful and all seeing, how is it that he can create an entire race and planet, but he can’t even save them all? Seems wrong to me.”  
Tyler was then silent a moment before continuing.

“Lynn offered you a place in exchange for her taking away his mortality, what is your reply?” Tyler asked, and Brendon saw the look on Gerard’s face as he looked at Frank, who didn’t even spare a glance.

“I decline,” Gerard responded, looking back at Tyler.

“I see, and don’t worry about him finding out now, he already knew.”

Tyler then stepped away from Gerard before looking at the rest of the group and stopping on Patrick, a smile appearing on his face as he made his way to him.

“Patrick Stump, my friends Ash and Andy offered you a position in the observatory, but you declined, correct?” Tyler asked, and this came as a shock to everyone.

Brendon could see the confusion on Pete’s face and he was almost sure that he felt hurt by this secrecy as well.

“Correct,” Patrick replied, clearly trying his best to keep his voice steady.

“I know that you were so certain of this choice before Patrick, but now I see a wavering heart, you are scared that you will not be able to control the beast for much longer and that you will hurt the one you love, so what is your response now?” 

Brendon wanted to laugh and say that Patrick would never join them because he knows what it is right deep down, but he was not able to.

“I accept,” Patrick practically whispered.

“He accepts,” Tyler said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Patrick, you can’t,” Pete said, turning to Patrick fully.

“I have to, I can’t hurt you Pete,” Patrick said, his voice becoming choked.

“You won’t hurt me, I know you won’t,” Pete said, his voice becoming choked as well.

“You don’t know it Pete, but I know that one day I will let my guard down and I will kill you,” Patrick said, and Brendon could see the tears falling down Pete’s face clearly.

“Don’t say that.”

“But it’s the truth Pete and you really do know it, deep down.”

“I love you Patrick,” Pete said, his voice barely above a whisper as Patrick backed away from him.

“I love you too Pete, but this is for the best,” Patrick said, the tears falling down his face.

“Now, since you are all clearly against us, we must dispose of you,” Tyler said, and before anybody could take another breath, the explosion came.

The blast knocked most of them off their feet and those who were not, began to fire their weapons on Tyler and his group, who were firing back without another thought.

“We need to leave!” Brendon yelled, through the flames that had engulfed the room.

“Everyone out!” Brendon heard Ryan call out.

“Are you ok?” Brendon asked as the two began to back their way towards the stairs, firing into the white smoke.

“I’m ok, are you?” Ryan replied, and Brendon nodded.

Brendon then looked away for a moment, to check if everyone else was ok, but that one glance costed him greatly as the sound of a bullet rang out and a gasp followed.

Brendon turned back in time to witness Ryan looking back at him with a look of fear in his eyes before he dropped to ground.

“Ryan!”


	20. Chapter 20

_Brendon Urie had lived in Las Vegas all his life after his family had moved there from Utah and it had been pretty lonely. He knew so many people, but he couldn’t class any of them as actual friends unfortunately. He was 18 and didn’t have a single person he could truly count on._

_The music was too loud. In fact, it was so loud that you could feel it through the floor and it was finally getting to Brendon after a few hours. He was at some party down the street from his house, which was being held by some Welsh guys that Brendon knew in one of his classes and so he came to get away from the cage that was his house._

_Brendon hadn’t drunk a drop of alcohol that night, which was highly unusual for him, but he just didn’t feel like getting wasted for once. So, that led him to the corner of the living room that he had been occupying for the last hour and he was quite ready to get going, despite it only being nine at night._

_“Hey Brendon!” Brendon heard a voice call out from amongst the sea of bodies dancing in the centre of the room._

_He looked around until he saw the owner of that voice. It was Fil Thorpe-Evans.  
Fil was a nice guy and was the one who had invited Brendon to the party as they had a lot of fun at school together and he said, ‘it wouldn’t be a real party without Brendon Urie’ and so of course he couldn’t refuse. _

_“Hey Fil,” Brendon greeted once Fil was stood in front of him._

_“I thought you’d be wasted by now,” Fil said before downing the rest of his current drink._

_“Not really in the mood tonight, sorry,” Brendon said, not really sure why he was apologising._

_“Shame that, Ben got some pretty good stuff tonight.”_

_“Well, I think I’m gonna go get some air, it’s getting pretty hot in here,” Brendon said, gesturing to the patio doors behind him._

_“I won’t keep you then, I’ll see you around,” Fil said before patting Brendon on the shoulder and disappearing back into the crowd._

_Brendon was planning on leaving once he was outside, but that never happened. Brendon was to never see home again once he stepped foot outside._

_Once he was outside, he found himself looking at a beautiful sunset. It was always unusual seeing a sunset at that time of the day, but it was summer, and Brendon adored the sun and the day and so was happy to see it only just setting._

_Brendon was so caught up in the view that he didn’t notice the person leaning over the patio railings beside him until they started talking._

_“You like the sun?” The person asked, causing Brendon to jump slightly._

_“Uh yeah, who doesn’t?” Brendon replied, walking over to the railing and standing beside the person._

_“I’m not such a big fan of it, I like the moon better.”_

_“Well, I guess both are important, so I see where you’re coming from…what’s your name?” Brendon questioned, intrigued by the stranger._

_“Ryan Ross, and you?”_

_“Brendon Urie.”_

_Ryan Ross was a tall and skinny guy and he was quite stunning to look at. He had his short brown hair covering his forehead and some of his brown eyes. He was dressed in skinny jeans and a black jacket, which was zipped up completely. Brendon also found that his voice was quite soothing to hear._

_“You don’t want to be here, do you?” Ryan asked, and Brendon was curious as to how he knew, but it was probably obvious considering he was out there and not inside with the rest._

_“Not particularly,” Brendon said, looking down for a moment before looking back up at the setting sun as it cast a red glow across the city._

_“You don’t want to go home either,” Ryan stated, and that caused Brendon to raise an eyebrow._

_“How did you know that?” Brendon questioned, looking at Ryan now._

_“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”_

_“I’m not a religious man and I like to think I’m incredibly open minded, so just try me.”_

_“I was born with the gift of sight, but not like eyesight, I can see things like when somebody’s lying or I can sometimes see what people are thinking if I try really hard and some other things that normal people can’t see,” Ryan explained, not looking at Brendon once._

_“Oh my god,” Brendon said quietly._

_“Yeah, you probably think I’m crazy or something,” Ryan said before turning to leave._

_“No wait, I believe you,” Brendon said quickly, not wanting Ryan to leave so soon._

_Brendon watched as Ryan stared at him, almost as if he were searching for something in his eyes._

_“You’re not lying,” Ryan stated, but he said it in a way that sounded as if he couldn’t believe._

_“I’m not, I actually think that sounds amazing, like it must be so cool to be different to everyone in the world,” Brendon said, and it was the truth._

_Brendon had always hated how a lot of people he knew had a thing that defined them, like Fil and his friends were the Welsh guys and that was their thing that everybody knew them as. He always felt like he was just what everybody wanted him to be._

_“Where I’m from, I’m not that special,” Ryan said, which caused Brendon’s eyes to widen._

_“There’s more people like you?” Brendon asked in amazement._

_“Yep and I can tell you all about it…if you want that anyway,” Ryan offered, and Brendon immediately accepted._

_“Cool, let’s go somewhere quieter.”_

_The two then left the party and made their way down the street to the edge of the city, which wasn’t too far considering Fil lived in the outskirts of the city. They walked down the road, not really caring where they went as the sky slowly became darker, eventually leading to their walk being under the moon and stars._

_“So, where’s this special city of yours?” Brendon asked, putting his hands into his jeans pockets._

_“It’s on the edge of the country somewhere, but it’s actual location is unknown because only people like me live there, people of all kinds,” Ryan replied, and Brendon already liked the sound of the mysterious place._

_“What kind of people?” Brendon questioned, curious as to just what other people were out there, unknown to the world._

_“There’s sorcerers, werewolves, vampires, fairies and pretty much every creature you’ve ever read of in a book,” Ryan explained, and Brendon was jealous that he was stuck out in this terrible city while Ryan lived in such an amazing place._

_“That’s so cool,” Brendon murmured before a thought then came to him._

_“Why are you here then?” Brendon asked, curious as to why a guy like Ryan was in such a place so far from home._

_“I was having a shitty week at home and a friend of mine was in town and invited me out here and I agreed, so he drove us here and now it turns out he had to leave the party for some dumb reason, hence me standing on the patio alone,” Ryan replied, and Brendon couldn’t imagine having a night so bad that would lead to you travelling across the country to get away from it all._

_“Wow, that really is a shitty night,” Brendon said, laughing a little, which then caused Ryan to laugh and Brendon liked hearing him laugh._

_The two kept walking down the empty road that led out of the city, the vast desert surrounding them. It felt very surreal, walking down an empty road in the middle of nowhere with a complete stranger. Brendon actually wondered if this was all just a dream and that he had actually fallen asleep back at the party._

_“I don’t want to go home,” Brendon said, but not really sure as to why._

_“What’s it like?” Ryan asked, and Brendon noticed that he had gotten closer at some point._

_“Pretty shit, my parents are religious and I’m not, so that already makes life pretty difficult with them because they don’t like that, and I guess I’m just the problem child,” Brendon explained, kicking a stone on the road._

_“My house is pretty shitty too, my mom left and my dad’s an alcoholic who can’t accept anything I do, so I don’t really want to go home either.”_

_There was then a moment of silence before Ryan asked a question._

_“You got a car?”_

_“Yep, just got my licence,” Brendon said, hoping that this was going where he thought it was._

_“Then come with me,” Ryan said, stopping them in their tracks._

_“Back to your city?”_

_“Yes, it’s perfect, you don’t want to go home and neither do I, so let’s just leave together, do something dumb,” Ryan said, and Brendon didn’t hesitate in agreeing._

_“Let’s do it.”_

_The two ran back to Fil’s house where Brendon had left his car and two got in and they drove away. Brendon didn’t even look back once, and he never went back home. He decided that if he was going to leave, he was going to leave everything about him behind too._

_They drove all night and it was only when the sun began to rise that Brendon realised that his family would be getting up to go to church and they weren’t going to find him in his bed with not even a note to explain. He wasn’t really bothered by that, it was just a strange feeling because he didn’t know how they’d react, would they even care? Would they deal with it after church because nothing is more important to them then their religion? Or would they truly be distraught? And if so, how long would it last?_

_“Ryan, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship,” Brendon said, which caused Ryan to laugh a little._

_“Did you just quote Casablanca?” Ryan asked, a smile on his face that Brendon loved._

_“Maybe I did, but it’s the truth,” Brendon replied, a grin on his face._

_Not long after that they arrived in the city and that was the beginning of Brendon’s new life. A life that was filled with new friends, a new job, broken hearts and more arguments with Ryan than he could count, until the day he realised that he wanted nobody else besides Ryan._

_Brendon never thought about home again and how he never returned there despite his plan to just go back after that party and continue his dull life. He was much happier where he was now._

“Ryan!” Brendon yelled once Ryan had hit the floor.

He rushed to his side immediately, dropping to his knees and holding him in his arms the second he hit the ground. The bullet had gone straight through Ryan, but he only knew this as he felt the warm blood soaking into his own trousers. 

“I never thought I’d go out this way,” Ryan said, a weak smile on his face despite the tears running down his face.

“You are not dying Ryan, I can’t let you do that,” Brendon said, his own tears rushing down his face.

“It’s ok, you’ll be ok Bren,” Ryan said, but Brendon just shook his head.

“No, I won’t, I need you,” Brendon sobbed.

Brendon then watched as Ryan slowly lifted an arm and pulled Brendon down closer to him and kissed him.

“Brendon!” A voice called out from inside the smoke.

Brendon then felt Ryan’s grip loosen and he pulled away to see that Ryan’s smile was gone and his breathing was getting heavier.

“I’m terrified Bren, I don’t want to become like those demons because I love you and not some girl,” Ryan said, and Brendon didn’t know what to say as he gripped Ryan’s hand tightly.

“You won’t Ryan, I know you won’t,” Brendon said before seeing a figure coming through the smoke.

“I love you Bren, I’m glad you ran away with me,” Ryan said as Brendon felt his grip loosen completely.

“I love you too,” Brendon whispered as Ryan’s chest stopped moving and he was frozen for a moment before it truly hit him.

The only person he truly loved was gone.

“No!” Brendon exclaimed as the figure got closer and was revealed to be Frank, who froze for a moment at the sight of Ryan before continuing closer.

“We can’t save him Brendon, we’ve gotta go,” Frank said, but Brendon didn’t want to leave Ryan, he just wanted to die in the fire and follow Ryan.

“I’m not leaving him here to burn,” Brendon said, but Frank didn’t like this.

Frank moved behind Brendon and began to pull him away and despite all of Brendon’s struggles, Frank had his way and he was soon out of the room and was dragged down the stairs and out into the cold night with the rest of the group. 

He was then released, and Brendon fell to his knees, the tears still falling.

“Where’s Ryan?” Spencer asked the moment he hit the floor.

“He’s dead,” Brendon said, his voice choked.

“What?” Spencer said, obviously not wanting to believe it.

“He’s dead and Frank left his body there to burn."

Brendon then got to his feet as Spencer and Jon began to spill their own tears, holding each other as tightly as they could as if that would make everything better.

“We didn’t have time Brendon, you would’ve died if you stayed in there any longer,” Frank argued, but Brendon didn’t want his excuses.

“Well maybe I wanted to die Frank, maybe I wanted to go with him because he’s the reason I’m even living the life that I never dreamed of having.”

“Ryan wouldn’t have wanted that Brendon,” Frank said, but this made Brendon even angrier.

“You knew nothing about him Frank because you never gave a damn about any of us!” Brendon exclaimed, gesturing to himself and then at Spencer and Jon.

“That’s not true!” Frank yelled, and before Brendon could argue back, Mikey spoke up.

“Where’s Pete? He was here a minute ago,” Mikey asked, causing everybody to look around them before Joe spoke up.

“He’s down there,” He said, pointing down the street to Pete walking away from the group.

“Where are you going?!” Joe called out.

“To find Patrick!” Pete yelled back.

“We gotta help him guys, he’s gonna get himself killed,” Andy said, but Brendon shook his head.

“I’m not doing this anymore,” Brendon said before looking at Jon and Spencer.

“You guys coming, or would you rather stay?” Brendon asked, ignoring everybody else as they tried to convince him to stay.

Brendon watched as the two looked at the group and then at each other before back at Brendon.

“We’re coming with,” Spencer said, wiping away the remaining tears.

The three then turned and started to walk away from the group, not looking back. 

It reminded Brendon of leaving home because he couldn’t care less.


	21. Chapter 21

It had been two weeks since the incident and Brendon had barely eaten a thing and only slept when he passed out from exhaustion. He hadn’t left the apartment and spent his days lying around in a mixture of anger and depression, only moving when Spencer and Jon came by to check on him.

Tyler and his group had been quiet, and Brendon knew he should care because this was obviously the build up to something disastrous, but he didn’t. He couldn’t find it in him to care what happened to everyone else because the end didn’t seem so bad when he didn’t have Ryan by his side.

“Brendon, we’re worried about you,” Spencer said over the phone to Brendon.

It was raining outside, and Brendon was stood at the window watching the people rush home in the darkness of the night.

“I know you are, but I don’t know what you expected to happen,” Brendon said as he moved into the kitchen.

“We miss him too Brendon, I mean, he was my best friend since forever and now he’s gone, but I know that I have to keep going because he wouldn’t want to see me like this,” Spencer said, and Brendon could hear Jon’s voice in the background, but he wasn’t sure what he was saying.

“Y’know what he said to me before we went in?” Brendon asked but Spencer didn't reply.

“He said that he was done after this case and that he wanted to do something else with his life that meant he could see me more, you have no idea how hard it is to live with those words in your head, knowing that he didn’t want this life anymore and if you or any of those guys think I’m going back to it, then you are horribly mistaken,” Brendon said before hanging up and putting the phone down on the counter.

There was then a quiet knock at the door and Brendon sighed before making his way over to it and flinging it open to reveal Gerard stood there.

“What are you doing here Gerard? Don’t you have somewhere better to be like back home with that asshole?” Brendon asked, not in the mood to talk to him.

“It’s because of Frank that I’m here,” Gerard said, and Brendon figured this was going to take a while and so gestured for Gerard to enter.

The two then placed themselves on the sofa together before Gerard spoke up again.

“First of all, you look terrible,” Gerard said, looking Brendon up and down.

Brendon’s hair was down, his fringe covering his forehead like he used to have it a few years ago and he was wearing an old t-shirt that used to Ryan’s from school and to complete it all, he was wearing his pajamas bottoms and his glasses.

“Thanks, is that a message from Frank?” Brendon asked, not doubting for a second that it was.

“No, it’s the truth Brendon, now let me tell you why I’m here,” Gerard said before there was silence.

Brendon wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to say something or not and so decided to gesture for him to go on because Gerard seemed to be waiting for some form of reply.

“Frank’s a mess Brendon, he feels awful for what he did, even if it was the right thing,” Gerard said but Brendon was already annoyed.

“I’m sorry, but leaving Ryan’s body to burn was the right thing to do?” Brendon questioned, not seeing what was so right about that.

“Brendon, answer me honestly, but would Ryan have wanted you to stay and die with him?”

This caught Brendon off guard and he was silent for a while as he thought about it. He knew that Ryan was scared to go alone, but would he have wanted Brendon to experience the same thing? He knew that the answer was no but there was something about saying it out loud that caused a shift inside of Brendon.

“No, but Frank didn’t even consider the possibility of even trying to save his body and that’s what I’m mad about Gerard, he just didn’t give a damn like always."

“Can’t you guys just talk it out?” Gerard asked, clearly not satisfied with this answer.

“Why do even care Gerard? Is this just because you think that Frank and I being friends again will put him in a better mood and he’ll forgive you?” Brendon questioned, not seeing the benefit of this.

“I’m doing this because you are the smartest guy I know, except for Mikey anyway, and you need to get back out there with Spencer and Jon and stop those guys from destroying people’s lives…and Frank is not mad with me,” Gerard replied, but Brendon just laughed at the last part.

“Are you sure about that last part Gerard? Because he seemed pretty pissed at you,” Brendon asked, not seeing how Frank wouldn’t be mad.

“He told me that he wasn’t,” Gerard said, but he seemed confident in his answer now.

“That’s what Frank does, he tells you that he’s not mad and then he brings it up again and again whenever you fight just so he can pile up the reasons as to why he’s right, like once I broke one of his glasses and offered to replace it and he of course refused and said it was fine, but then a month later when we had an argument about something dumb and he says ‘Brendon, you just keep breaking my heart like you break my glasses, constantly’, we’ve never even dated!” Brendon exclaimed.

“You broke his heart just by breaking a glass?” Gerard asked, his eyes wide in obvious fear of what the effect of what he’d done would be in comparison.

“No Gerard, he was just being a dick like usual,” Brendon said, crossing his arms.

Gerard then asked Brendon once more to speak to Frank before leaving after Brendon declined again. Brendon wasn’t going to speak to Frank Iero unless he was dragged to him.

*  
“Come on Frank, just come out for an hour, I swear you’ll feel a million times better” Billie begged for the fifth time that night.

Billie Joe Armstrong and his friends, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool, were probably the most hated vampires in the entire city. This was because unlike most vampires, the three preferred to drive around the city and do stupid things all night while the majority of the other vampires preferred to do their nightly hunt. In fact, the three had been in the process of getting kicked out a bar for the third time that night when they had received the call from Gerard Way explaining that Frank wasn’t himself lately and that they could come over and cheer him up if they wanted.

“For the fifth time, no, I don’t feel like it,” Frank said, clearly not going to be swayed any time soon.

Frank had been laying on the sofa in the living room area all night with Billie, Mike and Tré stood over him. 

“We’re not done here Frank,” Billie said before walking into the bathroom, gesturing for Mike and Tré to follow.

“Man, he’s really down,” Billie said once the door was shut.

“Yeah, he’s acting like somebody died,” Tré said before Mike sighed and put a hand to his face.

“Somebody did die Tré,” Mike explained to Tré, whose eyes widened at this.

“Oh man, somebody should really talk to him,” Tré said, going to leave but Mike pulled him back.

“That’s what we’re trying to do,” Mike said, before looking at Billie.

“What do you think we should do? I mean what can we do that Gerard can’t? Frank loves nobody more than Gerard and even he can’t solve this one,” Mike questioned, but that gave Billie an excellent idea.

“Mike, you’re a goddamn genius,” Billie said before reaching and planting a kiss on Mike’s cheek and then rushing out the bathroom without another word.

Billie ran back over to Frank before reaching down and picking up Sweetpea, who had been sniffing his shoes for a moment.

“I’m sorry Frank but this is for your own good,” Billie said, and before Frank could even move, Billie rushed out the apartment with Mike and Tré following closely.

“Get to the car Mike!” Billie exclaimed as they rushed down the stairs.

Mike seemed confused but ran ahead anyway and reached the car in no time before starting it up, Billie and Tré reaching the car moments later.

“Tré, keep hold of Sweetpea,” Billie ordered, shoving the small dog into Tré’s arms once everyone was in the car with Mike driving, Billie sitting shotgun and Tré in the back.

“What’s the plan here Billie?” Mike asked as they sped through the city at their usual dangerous speed.

“You said that Frank loves nobody more than Gerard, but that’s not true, Frank loves Sweetpea more than anybody and by taking her, he’s forced to get out and come for her,” Billie explained, feeling proud of his plan.

“Awesome plan Billie, you genius,” Tré called from the back.

“Thank you Tré, I think so too,” Billie said with a smile on his face.

“But how is Frank supposed to get her back if he doesn’t know where we’re going? Also, Frank doesn’t have a car Billie,” Mike questioned, causing the smile on Billie’s face to drop.

“Terrible plan Billie, you idiot,” Tré said, petting Sweetpea.

“That’s a good point Mike, maybe we should turn back and-you’re fucking with me, right?” Billie said as the sound of a siren came blaring out from behind them.

Mike pulled over with the cop car pulling up right behind them.

“Act natural,” Billie said as the cop got out the car and came over to them.

 

“Excuse me but do you have any ide-didn’t I just pull you guys over a few weeks ago?” The cop asked, Billie recognising him instantly because nobody else was that tall, not even Mike.

“I don’t think so,” Billie said, hoping that he wouldn’t recognise them since they weren’t wearing their sunglasses this time.

“And weren’t you a woman?” Officer Weekes questioned, looking at Tré.

“Yeah and now I’m not, do you have a problem with that officer? Are you discriminating against me?” Tré replied, and Billie just hoped that Tré would be enough to get them out of this again.

“I don’t, I was just asking sir, now I got a call that you stole a man’s dog and then I find that you are speeding, again,” Officer Weekes responded, and Billie couldn’t believe it.

“Now he said that he won’t press charges as long as you return the dog in one piece, so I suggest you do that because that was very kind of him.”

“We will Officer, now leave us be before this creature attacks you,” Tré said, and Officer Weekes simply sighed before returning to his car and driving off.

“I can’t believe he called the cops on us,” Billie said, completely shocked by this action.

“It’s like we mean nothing to him anymore, friends don’t call the cops on other friends” Tré said, obviously just as torn as Billie was.

“Maybe Frank doesn’t want to be friends with us anymore, I mean, he’s obviously not interested in what we used to do together anymore, so maybe he’s moved on,” Mike suggested, and Billie couldn’t help but take in the possibility.

The three then drove back to Frank’s and gave him Sweetpea back again and planned to just head home again, but that didn’t happen immediately because Billie wasn’t going to let this go.

“You called the cops on us asshole, I thought we swore to never do that to each other?” Billie said after Sweetpea was back inside as they stood outside Frank’s door.

“I did what I had to Billie, you were being dumb,” Frank said, leaning on the doorframe.

“Well don’t count on us to help you out anytime soon,” Billie said before turning and heading down the stairs, Mike and Tré following closely.

“And by the way, don’t take it out on Gerard just because he wanted to be with you forever, not many people would do that,” Billie called out from the car before they drove off into the city again.

They drove in silence for a while before Tré spoke up with an idea that put a smile on Billie’s face.

“Wanna go back later and break into his bar?” 

“Is that even a question? Fuck yes I do,” Billie replied with a laugh.

“It’s Frank’s loss, right?” Mike said, and Billie nodded.

“It is indeed Mike.”


	22. Chapter 22

Matt Bellamy was a simple man, in his own opinion anyway, and didn’t see the point of choosing a side when neither were completely right. Some may have called him a ‘traitor’ or ‘a backstabbing no good psychopath that can’t see when he’s gone too far’ but Matt never saw it that way, he simply felt that as a superior being, he shouldn’t have a side.

“It would seem that Frank Iero has landed himself in a pit of depression,” Matt said, turning around in his chair to face Dominic and Chris, who were sat on the sofa across the apartment while Matt sat at his desk.

“Shocking, I mean I can’t believe that I didn’t figure it out myself from the fact that his partner had considered mass destruction for eternity with him as well as blaming himself for the death of a friend, you are truly a genius Matt,” Dominic said, his level of sarcasm the highest Matt had ever seen.

“Do I detect a hint of sarcasm, Dom? I just was stating it to see if anybody had any ideas as to what we should do about it,” Matt said before throwing an envelope at Chris.

“What’s this?” Chris asked, flipping over the envelope to inspect it.

“Our next move,” Matt replied before standing up and walking over to the two.

Matt watched as Chris opened the mysterious envelope and shook out the contents, his face one of confusion as he stared at the paper in his hand.

“Who are they?” Chris questioned as he handed the paper to Dominic.

“Some of Frank’s old friends that I think could help us with the next stage in our operation,” Matt explained before taking the photo off of Dominic.

“This is Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool and they were some of the most dangerous and well-known vampires a long time ago if you cast your minds back a few centuries ago,” Matt said, pointing to each of the individuals on the photo.

“You mean those are the twats that hijacked a ship to England and caused mass panic back in the sixteen hundreds? God that was hilarious,” Dominic said, a smile coming onto his face at the memory.

“It was but now they spend their days annoying the hell out of every bartender in the city.”

“You’re joking, right? Those guys were so close to being universally known back then and had racked up a kill count that had never been achieved before,” Chris said, clearly finding it difficult to take this in.

“I wish I was Chris, but now it’s up to us to get them back in the game before the world goes to hell.”

“I take it you tracked them down while we were having this conversation?” Dominic asked, crossing his arms as he leaned back into the seat.

“I did, they’re currently at their apartment which isn’t too far from here,” Matt said as he made his way towards the front door, Dominic and Chris following.

“I think it’s time vampires made a comeback.”

*  
Gerard didn’t know what he had expected to happen while he was visiting Brendon, but he had not anticipated that Sweetpea would be dognapped by the people he had entrusted to cheer up Frank and that this would lead to the end of their friendship.

“And I don’t even know why they showed up, it was so weird,” Frank said as Gerard laid beside him on the bed.

“I asked them to come see you,” Gerard said, deciding it would be best to tell him the truth.

“Any reason why?” Frank asked, clearly not seeing the obvious reason.

“You’re hurting Frank, in a way that I can’t seem to heal, so I asked them to come over and cheer you up considering you told me that you used to be great friends,” Gerard replied, and to this, Frank smiled.

“Gerard, you are quite possibly the kindest man I’ve ever met, but I’m going to be fine, I’ve just gotta work through this on my own for a while, it’s how I’ve always dealt with things and it never fails me, so thank you but I’m fine,” Frank said before leaning across and kissing Gerard, a thing that Gerard would never tire of.

“Where were you anyway? You went out kinda late,” Frank questioned, and it was the one question that Gerard was hoping to avoid.

“Um, I went to see Brendon,” Gerard said, and he hardly had a chance to move before Frank had bolted upright.

“You went to see Brendon?” Frank asked, clearly not pleased with this, as Gerard sat up as well.

“Yes, but before you start yelling, I need you to know that Brendon said that he’s not mad that you took him from Ryan to save him, he’s mad because you didn’t consider another possibility, the possibility of saving Ryan’s body, even if it wasn’t possible,” Gerard explained, hoping that Frank would see reason.

“Oh? Just like how you considered the possibility of there being a better solution to our problem instead of aiding in mass destruction?” Frank said, but it was clear that it came out faster than he could process it.

“Frank, I never accepted that offer,” Gerard said in a calm tone in hopes of keeping this from exploding.

“I know, but you still said that you’d consider it, which is not ok.”

“Well I’m sorry that I wanted to spend my life with you,” Gerard said feeling, for the first time since he came down to Earth, annoyed.

“Don’t play that card on me Gerard, you can’t excuse the destruction of the world with love, no matter how hard it is because this is bigger than the two of us, this is the lives of billions,” Frank argued, standing up from the bed.

“What has the world ever done for us Frank? I mean, my first life was spent in misery and a cycle of hate from both the people around me and myself and ends with a bullet in my head, and now in my second I’m thrown out for who I am, and I come down here and I see that not a thing has changed, and you expect me to care about it?” Gerard blurted out, not even knowing he felt this way until it was said.

Silence then descended over the two before Gerard decided that it would best if he left for a while and so stood up and made his way to the bedroom door but found himself stopping at Frank’s next words.

“You’re right,” Frank said, his voice practically a whisper.

“What?” Gerard asked, wondering whether he’d heard correctly as he turned to face him.

“You’re right, the world hasn’t done shit for me except make me hate myself, but guess what? I don’t care, that’s life and if leading this shitty life has led to us meeting, then I want to keep living it and I can’t do that if the rest of the world isn’t there to try and put me down because I want to keep fighting Gerard, I want to fight all the crappy people in the world until there’s nothing in my way,” Frank replied, and his response caused Gerard to bring a hand to mouth as tears began to form in his eyes and silently fall.

“Hey, don’t cry, it’s ok,” Frank said softly, bringing Gerard into a tight embrace.

“No, it’s not, I’m a terrible angel,” Gerard sobbed, moving his arms to return the embrace.

“You’re many things Gerard, kind, funny, smart and beautiful, but terrible is not one of them,” Frank said, rubbing Gerard’s back gently.

“You’re just saying that,” Gerard said as he felt himself relaxing.

“I may be a dick sometimes, but I am not a liar…and I’m sorry for before, I understand why you considered it, but just promise me that we’ll find another way, together,” Frank said, and Gerard pulled back slightly and nodded.

Frank then smiled at Gerard before pressing a kiss to his lips and tightening his grip on Gerard. It was these moments that reminded Gerard why he considered going to such lengths to save Frank, but now he knew that if they were going to be together, then it should be done together.

*  
Billie was not a man to cry, or so he told himself, but the end of his friendship with Frank had really made a mess out of him. In fact, it had made a mess out of all three of them.

The three men were all sprawled out across the sofas in the living room with Billie lying across Mike’s lap with a tub of ice cream as Mike sat with feet up on the coffee table as he read a book on dealing with a broken heart, and Tré lying across the second sofa with a bucket over his head and a plate of brownies in his hands and there was a romance movie playing on the TV.

“It says here that he’s not worth it and that we need to find our inner independent woman,” Mike said, but that only earned a sob from Tré.

“But I’m already an independent woman, what now Mike? What now?!” Tré asked, shoving a brownie into his mouth.

“Wait, there’s a chapter link to if you already are…it just says that you need to realise that women are better and to just become a lesbian…I don’t think this woman is as qualified as she says she is,” Mike said before shutting the book and chucking it behind him, a crash following shortly after.

“I shouldn’t miss him, but I do, god he’s such an asshole for doing this to us,” Billie groaned, shoving a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

“He is, which is why we need to get over him and accept that all we need is each oth-” Mike said but was cut off by the sound of a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it,” Billie mumbled as he stood up and stumbled over to the door.

He swung it open to reveal three men, who he did not recognise in the slightest.

“Evening gentlemen, I’m Matthew Bellamy and these are my closest friends, Dominic Howard and Christopher Wolstenholme, but you can just refer to us as Matt, Chris and Dom, may we have a moment of your time?” Matt greeted, a smile on his face.

“Hey, what do you want?” Billie questioned, puzzled as to what these men were doing at their apartment at such a late time.

“We need some help with a task and I believe that you and your friends possess the skills that are required for it,” Matt replied, and Billie decided to let them in because something told him that this was important.

“Sure, come in,” Billie said, standing aside to let the three enter before shutting the door behind them.

The three men then made themselves comfortable one of the sofas while Billie and Mike sat beside Tré on the other, the bucket still on his head.

“Why does he have a bucket on his head?” Chris asked, pointing at Tré.

“He wanted brownies,” Billie responded, but it was clear that this hadn’t cleared anything up.

“I find their perfectly cut shapes disturbing,” Tré said, earning him a confused nod from Chris.

“So, why have you seeked us of all people out?” Billie questioned, leaning back into the sofa and crossing his arms, trying his best to seem serious.

“We have been around for quite a long time like you gentlemen and we remember when you were the most feared and dangerous vampires simply because you wanted to have a bit of fun, and I believe that you can help us stop a disaster from occurring,” Matt explained quite bluntly.

“You’re vampires too?” Mike asked but Matt shook his head.

“Oh no, we are much more ancient than you’re kind and have wandered and watched over this planet for a long time, but that’s not important, there is a group of creatures that your old friend Frank Iero was trying to stop with another group, but neither sides are truly right and I fear that without some guidance from such a group of being as yourselves, who have witnessed destruction too many times, then all will be lost,” Matt replied before then explaining the full story.

“Holy shit, that’s not good,” Billie said before looking at Mike and Tré, who only nodded at him.

“We’ll help you, but how are we going to convince that Brendon guy to help?” Billie asked, and to this Matt smiled.

Matt and his friends then took Billie, Mike and Tré to their own apartment before showing them to a table with something hidden under a sheet.

“Take a look,” Matt said, gesturing for the three to get closer.

Billie had been surprised when he discovered that there lay a dead body under the sheet, but not as surprised as he should have been considering he’d seen his fair share of the dead in his life.

“Is this him?” Billie asked, turning to Matt.

“It is.”

“Are you going to bring him back to life?” Tré questioned.

“No, we’re going to throw his body in a volcano and sacrifice him to the gods,” Dominic said, his voice filled to the brim with sarcasm.

“Really?” Tré asked, a hint of excitement in his voice.

“No, you bloody idiot, of course we’re going to bring him back!”


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dunno whether it needs a warning but there is little bit I suppose of gore maybe? Like there's a stabbing a dead body in the head, hands, feet and stomach so I dunno if that may require a warning as it's not graphic but thought I should just in case.

Tré Cool was by no means the most intelligent person in the world, but he was definitely sure that stabbing a dead body was the opposite of bringing them back. He stood in confusion as Dominic rammed a knife into the man that was known as Ryan Ross’ stomach and left it there before turning to consult Matt and Chris.

“Do these guys know what they’re doing? Because to me, the volcano option seems much more effective than this,” Tré quietly questioned to Billie and Mike, who both seemed just as puzzled as Tré.

“I mean, I’m no doctor, but it would appear that they do not,” Mike replied, crossing arms.

Tré then turned back to see Chris measuring Ryan’s body with a measuring tape before then coming over to Mike.

“How tall are you?” Chris asked, looking at the measurements and then at Mike.

“Uh five foot ten maybe,” Mike said, glancing at Billie and Tré in confusion.

“Better be sure,” Chris murmured before measuring Mike with the tape measure and then sighing.

“He’s just shorter than him,” Chris then said as he turned to face Matt and Dominic.

“Damn, it was worth a shot,” Matt said before turning to Dominic, who had another knife in his hand and was gesturing to Ryan’s forehead with it.

“Are you going to put that through his head?” Tré questioned, his curiosity taking over him.

“I was going to but Matt thinks there’s another way,” Dominic replied before Billie spoke up.

“I thought you guys knew what you were doing?” 

“We do but it’s difficult because Ryan Ross had a very unique gift and so it’s difficult to bring those powers back without damaging the body,” Matt explained, and Tré was curious as to how many times these guys had done this.

“Matt, just let me try my way, he’s not going to get much deader,” Dominic said, but Matt didn’t seem to like this.

“No, but you might turn him blind on his return, or you may end up stripping him of his powers all together, let’s just see if there’s another way,” Matt argued but this just caused Dominic to pull an expression that was not in the slightest way friendly as he stabbed the knife into another part of Ryan’s stomach.

“Right because we always have to do it your way Matt, don’t we?” Dominic said before beginning to make his way to the door.

“Dom, wait,” Matt said but Dominic was gone.

There was then a moment of silence before Matt sighed as he put a hand to his face.

“He doesn’t mean it Matt, he’s just stressed about the whole situation,” Chris said, putting a hand on Matt’s shoulder.

“No, he’s right, I need to talk to him,” Matt stated before leaving the apartment as well.

Tré couldn’t bear the incredibly awkward silence and so, decided to strike up a conversation that wouldn’t end in another silence.

“Do you find the perfectly cut shapes of brownies to be disturbing also?”

*  
Dominic was stood outside the apartment building as it snowed, and he was seriously regretting his decision to leave his leather jacket inside. He was freezing, and he felt terrible for what he’d said, despite it being the truth, because he knew how complicated Matt was and that he never really intended to do half the things he did.

“Want this?” Dominic heard Matt ask from behind him, and how long he’d been there was unknown to Dominic.

He turned to see Matt holding his leather jacket out to him, which Dominic gladly accepted before shrugging it on and then turning back to the white scene in front of him.

“Chris says that you didn’t mean what you said, but I know you only were speaking the truth,” Matt said, appearing beside him before Dominic sighed and looked at him.

“Matt, I need you to understand that while it is the truth, it’s the truth for a reason, ok? You’re a genius Matt and that’s why we always do it your way and maybe I’m just jealous of that, I mean, I’m not saying that Chris and I are stupid, we’re not, but you’re on a level that I don’t think even God can achieve because otherwise he’d be the one down here trying to save these people and not you,” Dominic explained, hoping to patch things up as quick as possible because he hated fighting with Matt…and it was cold.

“You’re just saying that, nobody’s above God,” Matt said, and there was a moment where Dominic thought that he was going to go on one of his long ramblings about how God was nothing to a non-believer and so on, but he didn’t.

“Believe that if you wish but I’m telling the truth.”

“I thought about what you said and you’re right, it’s too risky, we’ll do it another way,” Dominic said after a brief moment of silence.

“No, I think we should try it,” Matt said, causing Dominic to raise an eyebrow considering this was what had caused their brief argument and now he’d changed his mind?

“I thought you said that it would possibly take away his powers?”

“I did but now that I think about it, maybe this man doesn’t want them, it’s not like it would make a great deal of change considering he hardly uses it except for when it haunts him at night,” Matt explained, and Dominic wanted so badly to complain at the fact that Matt had known these things about Ryan Ross but had declined to share them with Chris and himself, but he decided that that was a subject for a later date.

“Right, well I guess we’d better head back in then, Chris probably thinks we’ve murdered each other,” Dominic said before turning and making his way back into the building, Matt following closely.

“You know Dominic, you put on this cold act but I know that you’re actually just a big softie in reality,” Matt said, a grin appearing on his face.

“Oh piss off,” Dominic said with a laugh and went to shove Matt, but he’d already jogged on ahead up the staircase.

“Love you too!” He yelled as he raced up the stairs and Dominic just shook his head, a smile on his face.

*  
“Not every brownie is perfectly cut though,” Chris argued, determined to win this.

“You know they are Christopher, stop denying it!” Tré exclaimed, but Chris wasn’t going to admit a thing.

“Stop calling me Christopher and I’m only stating the truth because if I was going to cut out a brownie from a larger one then it wouldn’t be anywhere near perfect so therefore, not every brownie is cut perfectly and you’re just being ridiculous!”

“Something so perfect shouldn’t make so much mess,” Tré argued, changing the direction of the fight and Chris was going to argue back, but then he noticed the rather perplexed Matt and Dominic stood in the door way.

“Sorry for interrupting your important argument guys but we’ve got work to do,” Dominic had said before explaining the plan to Chris.

“Sounds good, and I take it that you will be the one handling the knives?” Chris asked Dominic, who nodded in reply.

The three then stood around the body, Matt one side, Chris on the other and Dominic behind the head, a few knives laid out on the table.

“What exactly are you going to do?” Billie questioned as he stepped closer with Mike and Tré.

“An extremely old ritual that involves me stabbing him in a few places and then carving a symbol into him and then we cast a spell and hope for the very best,” Dominic replied casually, causing the three Americans to look at them in horror.

“The ritual states that to be mended, you have to be broken and so when the spells heals him, it should bring him back perfectly and while it’s the most dangerous method, it’s also the quickest and we don’t have a lot of time, which is why I was so persistent on it, now please shut up until we’re done because this requires a lot of concentration and if I end up stabbing him through the eye, then I’m blaming you and you can explain to Brendon Urie why his boyfriend’s missing an eye,” Dominic then said and the three did not utter another word.

“Ok then, let’s get started,” Dominic murmured, and Chris could see that while Dominic was coming off as confident, he was actually terrified in reality. 

“You can do this Dom, I know it,” Chris said quietly, and it seemed to ease Dominic slightly.

Chris then watched as Dominic took a breath before pulling the knives out of Ryan Ross’ stomach and then plunging one back in.

“Break the stomach to destroy the power of gluttony,” Dominic said before picking up two knives and sending them straight through each of the feet.

“Break the feet to avoid them from running in cowardice.”

Chris was glad that Dominic had taken up the job because Chris couldn’t imagine damaging such a young man any more than he had already been. Chris then watched as Dominic plunged another two knives into both hands.

“Break the hands to prevent them from wanting to take more in greed,” Dominic said before taking up the final knife and holding it over the forehead, his hand shaking.

Chris then watched as Matt grabbed Dominic’s hand and nodded at him reassuringly, causing Chris to do the same.

“Together,” Chris said before the three sent the knife through the head.

“Break the mind to prevent resistance.”

The three then let go and looked at the body before Dominic and Matt took up another knife each. Chris watched as Dominic carefully carved a crescent moon into one of the cheeks while Matt worked on carving the sun into the other before they placed the knives down again.

“Alright, final part,” Dominic murmured before the three took each other’s hands in their own and began to recite the spell from their minds that carried an infinite amount of knowledge.

The spell was in a language that was long forgotten and all records of it had either been lost or destroyed because of the power it held, only Chris, Matt and Dominic could speak it so thoroughly.

This spell went on for what seemed like hours before the markings on Ryan’s face began to glow and all three men stopped reciting the spell and got to work on removing the knives as quickly as possible as now it was time to heal.

Everyone held their breaths as one by one the wounds began to close up as if they had never existed in the first place and soon all that was left to heal was the marking as they glowed a faint purple. If they disappeared, then it meant that it had worked.

They all watched as they then turned green and then faded as the marks began to disappear and suddenly Ryan’s eyes flew open and he bolted up.

“Brendon,” Ryan said, and Chris liked that the first thing he said after returning to the living world was the name of his boyfriend instead of the usual “where am I?” or “what’s happening?”.

“Ryan Ross, do you remember what happened to you?” Matt had asked, his voice soft so as to not startle Ryan.

“I died…I died in his arms,” Ryan replied, looking at his hands before looking at the crowd surrounding him.

“What happened and who are you?”

“I am Matthew Bellamy, and these are my two best friends, Dominic Howard and Christopher Wolstenholme but you may call us Matt, Dom and Chris,” Matt greeted with the same words that he always used.

“And these are some old friends of Frank Iero, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool,” Matt then said, gesturing to the three men, and Chris noticed the rather disgusted expression that had briefly appeared on Ryan’s face when Frank Iero was mentioned.

“Dom, Chris and I brought you back to life because we need you to convince Brendon Urie to finish the case because if he does not, then this will be the end,” Matt explained, and Ryan seemed rather shocked.

“Brendon dropped the case?” 

“Yes, after you died Frank pulled Brendon away from your body without a thought and Brendon was not pleased with the decision to leave your body to burn and so he and your other two friends left while the others attempted to deal with it themselves with Frank and Gerard also seemingly dropping out too and nothing has been done because Brendon and your friends are the ones with the skills to track them down.”

“We’re going to see him now, so I can personally backhand him.”

Chris couldn’t wait to see that.


	24. Chapter 24

Brendon groaned at the sound of the loud thudding at the apartment door. He was currently laid across the sofa in t-shirt and his underwear, a tub of ice cream in one hand and a spoon in the other while he watched Titanic on the TV. He had moved on from being angry at everything and was now crying at everything as he found that it was incredibly difficult to not do so when all of Ryan’s belongings were scattered about the house as he had not had the heart to box them up. 

He thought about ignoring the knocking but whoever was at the door was not going to give up anytime soon and so he decided to try another approach.

“Fuck off, I’m grieving!” Brendon yelled, and the knocking stopped.

Brendon smiled slightly to himself at his success and went back to the film as he shoveled another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. However, the moment he did so, there was a more aggressive knock at the door.

“Oh, come on,” He muttered, mouth still full.

Brendon then slowly stood up, swallowing the comfort food and putting the ice cream tub and spoon on the coffee table before trudging over to the door and swinging it open to reveal three strangers and the last person he ever expected to see at his door.

“Ryan?” He said, eyes wide at the sight of Ryan Ross stood on the other side of the doorway.

Brendon then watched as Ryan raised his hand and slapped him across the face and Brendon was frozen for a moment, not really sure how to respond, before Ryan put a hand to his mouth and tears began to form in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Ryan whispered, but Brendon didn’t care as he grabbed Ryan and pulled him close, his own tears beginning to fall.

“I thought you were dead…no, you were dead, I saw it,” Brendon said, his mind trying to comprehend the situation as he clutched Ryan tightly.

“I was, but these guys brought me back somehow,” Ryan explained, pulling away so that Brendon could see his tear stained face, but they still had a tight hold of each other.

“I missed you so much,” Brendon whispered, pressing a kiss to Ryan’s lips briefly before looking at the three strangers.

“Thank you so much,” Brendon said, and the three men simply nodded in response.

Brendon then decided that they should take this inside. He then removed himself from Ryan, but held his hand the moment they separated, before inviting the three men inside, who introduced themselves as Matt, Dominic and Chris. They then made themselves comfortable with Brendon and Ryan sitting together on the sofa with Chris sat beside Brendon on the end and Matt and Dominic each taking an armchair each.

“I can’t thank you guys enough, but what made you do this? I don’t even know you,” Brendon questioned, now that his mind had calmed itself.

“We are friends of Frank Iero and we are aware of the situation that you and your group face and wanted to help, it’s our duty to watch over this planet,” Matt replied, triggering more questions in Brendon’s mind.

“What are you guys?” Brendon asked as he had never heard of such a species that were to watch over entire planets.

“An ancient race that are older than this planet that were created by a being that is higher than your own God and lives in another universe, we are to watch and observe planets until their dying days and then we report back to better understand the universe and the species in it and then we move on to another planet, and while we’re not technically supposed to meddle in a planet’s fate, we think that this planet still has hope and we want to save it,” Matt explained, and Brendon had to take a moment to process all of the information before speaking again.

“If you were created by a being higher than God, then does this mean that you guys are also above God?” Brendon questioned, now feeling slightly threatened by their mere presence.

“We’re above him in terms of knowledge as your God only knows your universe while we know of all the infinite universes out there, but he is much stronger than us in strength and power.”

“And how did you bring Ryan back?” 

“In a way that you probably don’t want to know about, we didn’t even tell Ryan,” Dominic replied, but Brendon felt that he had to know.

“I do, I’m curious,” Brendon said, hoping not to sound too desperate.

“If you insist, now the way I did it was just one of many but was the quickest, what I did was I stuck a knife through both feet and hands, another through the stomach and another through the forehead before Matt and myself carved a sun and a moon into his cheeks and then we cast a spell until the carvings began to glow, we then removed the knives and he returned to the land of the living not long after that,” Dominic explained, and Brendon thought that maybe he would’ve been better off knowing as the thought of them destroying Ryan’s body even further disturbed him to no end.

“I see, and what are we supposed to do about Tyler and his group? They’re incredibly powerful,” Brendon then asked, changing the subject as fast as possible.

“We gather up your group again and devise a plan of attack that will enable us to talk to them because I am confident that we can get through to them,” Matt replied, but Brendon just shook his head.

“I already tried talking to them, they can’t be persuaded,” Brendon said, but Matt didn’t seem convinced.

“You simply didn’t say the right things because neither you or Tyler are entirely right in your beliefs,” Matt said, causing Brendon to raise an eyebrow.

“I don’t understand, how is Tyler right?” Brendon questioned, unsure of Matt’s statement.

“Tyler is right in wanting the different species in this city to be able to see the world without fearing for their lives, but you are right in believing that he is going about it in the completely wrong way, Tyler must see his error.”

Matt and his friends then explained that they had to get started as soon as possible and that they’d leave Brendon and Ryan alone for a moment as Ryan had to tell him something important before they were to join them outside where they would get started on getting the group back together.

Once they were alone and Brendon had got dressed into some jeans and a button up shirt and had cleaned himself up, he sat beside Ryan on the sofa.

“You have something important to tell me?” Brendon asked, and Ryan nodded.

“Yeah, when those guys brought me back, I didn’t come back completely the same,” Ryan said, and Brendon suddenly felt his stomach drop.

“What happened?” He questioned, but he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know.

“I don’t have my powers anymore,” Ryan replied, but Brendon noticed that there wasn’t any sadness in his voice, it was happiness.

“Does this mean that you’re human like me?” Brendon asked, and Ryan nodded.

“I finally got what I wanted Bren, I can finally live the life I want,” Ryan said before pulling Brendon into a hug.

Brendon didn’t know what to say so he remained silent but there was a smile on his face and he couldn’t feel any happier about this. Ryan was now free of his permanent torment.

“Were you watching Titanic?” Ryan asked, after they’d pulled away from each other, a smile on his face still.

“It’s a classic and I was sad, so it seemed logical,” Brendon replied, laughing a little.

The two then made their way down to Matt, Dominic and Chris after they’d realised how long they’d kept them waiting before making a list of everyone that they had and needed to get.

“Ok, so you say we’ve got those vampire friends of Frank and we have you guys and then there’s Ryan and I, so that’s eight out of seventeen,” Brendon said, and he noticed that their odds were looking good considering that Tyler only had eight, including himself and Patrick.

“You have some extraordinary people on your team I must say, I mean, you have two angels, a few sorcerers, a half werewolf, a psychic and a partially dead man, and now you have us and the vampires,” Matt said, clearly impressed.

“Our odds are looking great as well, I mean it’s seventeen on eight, and one of them is our friend,” Brendon said, before Matt and his friends shared a look amongst themselves.

“One hundred,” Matt said quietly.

“What?”

“It’s one hundred."

“One hundred what?” Ryan questioned, crossing his arms.

“It’s seventeen versus one hundred,” Chris replied, and Brendon almost wanted to ask if he’d heard right, but he knew he had.

“Since when?” Brendon asked, not sure where this army on Tyler’s side had come from.

“Since Ryan died, what did you think they were doing all this time? They’ve been recruiting,” Dominic said, and Brendon put a hand to his head briefly.

“I guess we better get started then,” He said, before looking at the list they’d made.

“I think we should start with Jon and Spencer,” Ryan said, and Brendon agreed before they started to make their way towards their apartment.

This was not going to be easy.


	25. Chapter 25

“Can you get the door Jon?” Spencer called from the kitchen, his hands wet from washing the dishes.

“Yeah!” Jon yelled back as he finished watering the tree and entered the apartment again.

Spencer listened as Jon walked to the apartment door and opened it and there was silence.

“Who is it?” 

“Uh, I think you should see this,” Jon said, and Spencer sighed as he grabbed the nearest tea towel and began to dry his hands, figuring he should have just got the door himself.

“What’s wro-” Spencer however stopped before he could finish as he saw the person stood in the doorway.

There stood Ryan Ross, his best friend that was supposed to be dead and Spencer wasn’t really sure what to do. Was this his imagination playing cruel tricks on him? But Jon could see him too. So, Spencer went by instinct and slapped Ryan across the face as hard as he could, he had to be absolutely certain.

“Ow what the fuck Spence?!” Ryan exclaimed, bringing a hand to his face and Spencer’s eyes widened, Ryan was alive, and he was stood right in front of Spencer. 

Spencer then lunged forward and pulled Ryan into a tight embrace.

“Sorry, I had to make sure this was happening, so on that note, what the fuck are you doing alive? We thought you were dead,” Spencer said, pulling away, hoping that nothing terrible had happened in order for this happen.

“I’ll explain everything to you as long as you promise not to slap me again or any of these guys,” Ryan said, and Spencer then only noticed that Brendon and three strangers were stood in the corridor as well.

“Sure, come in,” Spencer said, stepping aside to allow the group of men inside.

Once everybody was seated and the three strangers had introduced themselves as Matt, Dominic and Chris, Ryan explained the story to Spencer and Jon. It was so bizarre but also fascinating to be sitting in the same room as creatures as knowledgeable and old as the three British men. Spencer had also noticed that Jon had not taken his eyes off of said men since they entered the apartment and there was a look in his eyes that Spencer had never seen before.

“Wow, that’s quite the story,” Spencer said, not really sure how else to respond.

“So, you guys in again?” Brendon asked, and Spencer didn’t hesitate in agreeing.

“What about you Jon?” 

“Oh, yeah, totally,” Jon replied, clearly being dragged from his thoughts.

Spencer then listened as Brendon and Ryan explained that they needed to gather up everybody else before they did anything else. It seemed good until he was told how many it was against them, then he began to have doubts.

“I don’t mean to sound like a pessimist, but those odds aren’t good,” Spencer said, not sure why he was the only one that seemed concerned by this.

“It’s not about winning the physical fight Spencer, it’s about getting close enough to Tyler to talk some sense into him,” Brendon explained, but this didn’t ease Spencer’s conscience in the slightest.

“Didn’t you already try that?” Spencer asked, and Brendon nodded.

“I did, but Matt says that I didn’t say the right things to him and that Tyler’s right in wanting the people in this city to want to be free to roam the world without fear but we’re right in seeing that he’s doing it the wrong way, and so they’re going to try to talk some sense into him,” Brendon replies, and Spencer slowly nods, not sure what those guys could say that Brendon couldn’t.

Spencer then went to see what Jon thought of this but found that he was gone.

*  
“Long time no see Jon,” Jon heard Matt say as he leant on the balcony, watching the city below him.

“What are you guys doing here?” Jon asked, not bothering to turn to look at the three.

“I think the real question is, what are you doing here?” He heard Dominic question.

“I’m living a normal life while I can,” Jon replied, watching a bird fly past him and land on the balcony across from him.

“What part of this is normal?” Dominic asked, and Jon just sighed before finally turning to face them.

“The part where I get to live in a home with somebody that I really love and who I know loves me back, and the part where I have some of the best friends that I could ever ask for and the part where I get to have a job that I actually like,” Jon explained, not in the mood for their questions.

“What about the part where Spencer Smith finds out that you’re the-” Dominic said but Jon cut him off.

“Don’t you dare finish that, he doesn’t need to know,” Jon said, his voice and face the most serious it had ever been in his life.

“Alright, but you can’t expect it to stay a secret for much longer,” Dominic muttered before Matt took over.

“I assume that you’ll be helping to resolve this mess then?” Matt questioned, crossing his arms.

“Obviously, those guys can’t be allowed to succeed in their mission,” Jon replied before looking past the three and into the apartment through the clear balcony doors and seeing Spencer laughing with Brendon and Ryan, the sight bringing a smile to Jon’s face.

“I envy you Jon,” Matt stated randomly, causing Jon to have to drag his eyes away from Spencer.

“Why? I haven’t got anything miraculous, well anything that’s miraculous to the eyes of society anyway,” Jon asked, failing to see what he could have that Matt would want.

“You get to make your own fate, nobody is above you, nobody to tell you what to do and how to live, that’s what I envy,” Matt explained, and then Jon remembered the strict rules the three were under and suddenly felt terrible for acting like he wasn’t who he was.

Jon didn’t say another word before going back into the apartment and sitting beside Spencer, who seemed happy to see him return.

“Ryan was just telling me about how he found Brendon watching Titanic today,” Spencer said, obviously trying to hold back more laughter.

“It’s a classic!” Brendon exclaimed, throwing his outs in exasperation before collapsing back on the sofa and crossing his arms, clearly not impressed by the taunting.

“Hey, we’re just kidding,” Ryan said, leaning across and pressing a kiss to Brendon’s cheek, which earned him a smile from Brendon.

The four then spent the next hour joking around until Matt, Dominic and Chris returned inside and said that they should move onto the next group. They then decided to get Pete, Joe and Andy next and then it would be Frank and Gerard and Ray then finally Mikey.

*  
Brendon had not expected to get Pete, Joe and Andy back so easily. They had simply arrived at the apartment and explained the whole situation and they’d agreed, Pete being the most eager as he said that he would gladly help anybody who would help him get Patrick back.

The next stop was Frank and Gerard, and Brendon was not particularly thrilled at the idea. He still hadn’t technically forgiven Frank for the whole Ryan incident, and frankly, he still wasn’t sure how he felt about it at the moment.

Once they’d arrived at Frank’s and had explained everything to him and Gerard, they were ready to leave once the two had agreed, saying that Ray would definitely want to help as well. However, Brendon felt that he had to talk to Frank before they left and so told everybody to go ahead, except Ryan refused to leave and so stayed with Brendon.

“Frank, can we talk?” Brendon asked, once everybody had left to wait outside for the two.

“If this is about the broken glasses thing then I already told you, it’s fine,” Frank said with a shrug as Ryan and Brendon stood by the front door, Gerard stood beside Frank.

Brendon wanted to scream because he knew that Frank could be a real asshole sometimes, but this was just not right, even if he was just faking it to avoid it or if he was just kidding. Ryan had died, and Frank seemed to be the only one that didn’t give a damn as usual.

However, Brendon did not get the chance to retaliate as Ryan had beat him to it by raising his hand for the second time that day and slapping Frank right across the face, the sound that rang out told Brendon that that was going to leave a mark and probably hurt ten times more than the one he had received that morning.

“Ow, what the fuck?!” Frank exclaimed, bringing a hand to his cheek as Gerard’s eyes widened at the sudden lash.

“Listen here Iero, I have never gave a fuck about you and your pathetic excuse for treating everybody like shit and I still don’t, but Brendon does and his concerns are my concerns because I trust there’s good reason behind them, so if you’re going to be a child about this and avoid the truth that you left me to burn, and whether it was out of good intentions or not does not matter because it hurt Brendon either way and you’re being an ass about it, so grow the fuck up or don’t bother coming with us,” Ryan said, and Frank appeared to be quite angry about that and was clearly going to yell something back, but Ryan obviously noticed this too and started again.

“If you’re going to yell then save your breath, we’ve got better things to do than to listen to you try to get yourself out of the truth by throwing pointless insults at us, but if you want to talk like adults then we’ll gladly stay, what do you want to do?” Ryan asked, crossing his arms.

Frank was then silent and for a moment, Brendon thought he was going to start yelling, but he didn’t, he simply sighed.

“Fine, let’s talk,” Frank said, clearly defeated, before moving to the sofa with Gerard following silently.

Brendon and Ryan then followed and placed themselves on one of the armchairs, Ryan sitting himself on Brendon’s lap, which didn’t bother him in the slightest.

“Frank, I want to apologise, I shouldn’t have run away from something so big without thinking of your intentions,” Brendon said, hoping that Frank would forgive him, so they could make up and move on.

“I’m the one who should be apologising Brendon, I should’ve been more considerate and sympathetic towards you, I was too busy caring about my own dumb issues to even think about how you were thinking,” Frank said, and Brendon could see that it was sincere.

“We good then?” Brendon asked, a small smile on his face.

“Yeah, just as long as you don’t go breaking any more of my glasses,” Frank said, but there was a smile on his face too.

“No promises, but I’ll try,” Brendon said with a little laugh before Ryan shifted in his lap and looked at him with an unamused expression on his face.

“Really? I just poured out every ounce of hatred I had for him and it took you like two seconds to make up?” Ryan asked, clearly not impressed.

“Sorry for not being difficult?” Brendon said, not sure what he was supposed to say in response.

Ryan then stood up and made his way to the door, looking back at the three remaining.

“Are you guys coming or not? We’ve got another angel to see and not a lot of time,” Ryan questioned, and the three simply nodded before standing up.

The time for the final battle that would decide the fate of the world was approaching and Brendon didn’t know how it would end, but he knew he’d be honoured to die beside his friends if it ended in blood.


	26. Chapter 26

Brendon felt a feeling of loneliness wash over him as he sat in the apartment that belonged to Matt, Dominic and Chris. Only himself, Pete, Mikey and the three vampires had been allowed to the strategy meeting and for reasons unknown to everyone except for the three Englishman. They had collected Mikey immediately after seeing Frank and Gerard.

“Hey, how come only we were allowed to the meeting?” Pete questioned, sitting beside Brendon on the sofa.

“Because you each possess certain things that we think will be helpful…and the apartment isn’t big enough for everyone,” Matt replied, sitting in a desk chair at the side of the apartment.

“And those things are?” Brendon asked, not sure what a normal human like Brendon could possibly possess.

“Mikey is the more skilled angel out of the two, Pete’s a sorcerer so he will definitely come in handy, Billie, Mike and Tré possess the strength and speed needed to take down somebody specific, and you possess a certain mindset that I believe will help us create a perfect plan of attack,” Matt explained, and Brendon was almost compelled to argue that Ryan was the better choice, but decided that he needed to have more faith in himself and that he must have something that nobody else had.

“Now, if you’ll all come over to this table and we will get started,” Matt said, standing up and gesturing to a large table by the huge window that looked out onto the city.

The group then all gathered around the table, Brendon noticing a knife laying on one end that was covered in what looked like dry blood. It had puzzled Brendon at first as to why one would have a bloody knife on their table, but then it clicked. Ryan. His faced paled, remembering the horrific method described to him just that morning.

“You alright there?” Brendon heard somebody ask, he wasn’t sure who.

“Oh my god, Dom, you left a knife out,” Matt said, and then Brendon watched as Dominic apologised quickly before removing the knife by tossing it behind him into a bin.

“Right then, Chris drew up a map of Tyler’s hideout and also marked down all traps that he could find, so if you wouldn’t mind?” Matt said, looking at Chris.

Brendon then watched as Chris nodded and waved his hand over the clear black table. Then everyone watched in fascination as a map begin to draw itself out in bright blue lines and then drawing red crosses where the traps supposedly were. It was like a computer, but far more advanced.

“Thank you, now let’s begin, shall we?”

Brendon looked at the map and it didn’t seem too complex aside from the traps, it just seemed to be a large warehouse with a few large shipping crates lining the side walls, a stage like platform at the back and then a catwalk circling the building from up high. 

“Tyler is holding a rally tomorrow night and all members of their groups will be attending and so the warehouse should be filled with a large crowd with Tyler and his group taking stage,” Matt began, putting his hands on the table.

“Pete, we’ll start with you first, could you disable these traps?” Matt questioned, cutting straight to the point.

“Uh, maybe? It depends what kind of magic they are,” Pete replied, looking slightly intimidated.

“We believe them to be the same as yours, so does that mean yes?” Dominic asked, and Pete nodded in response.

“Good, now Mikey, we need you to assist Pete as there are locks upon locks on these traps and Pete will need his full focus on the task, so we need you to keep him from harm, can you manage that?” Matt said, looking at Mikey.

“Sure,” Mikey responded, looking unamused by his task.

“Billie, Mike and Tré, you have a special task, we need you to put Patrick Stump down,” Matt said, and before any of the three could respond, Pete spoke up.

“Put down? What does that mean?” Pete asked, the concern clear in his expression and tone.

“Don’t worry, we’re not killing him, we just need to keep him out of the fight for as long as possible because whatever he has become, it’s far too dangerous and unpredictable, we simply need him unconscious or trapped,” Matt replied, and while it seemed to ease Pete’s mind slightly, Brendon could see that there was still worry deep down.

“And finally, Brendon, you know everyone in this group for more personally than us, so how do you think the attack should play out?” Matt asked, the question taking Brendon aback slightly.

“Oh, um, well Jon and Spencer are a good team and I think they should take on the outer ring because Spencer’s powers will be more effective the closer he is to the outdoors, and I think that Frank and Gerard should take the centre because Frank’s a good fighter, I’ve seen him in his fair share of fights and Gerard will hopefully boost his morale and may be helpful, and then I think that Ray, Joe and Andy should help out in the centre as well as the outer because their skills should be effective anywhere really,” Brendon explained, not sure how he came up with a plan so quickly.

“And you and Ryan?” Dominic questioned.

“We’ll go with you guys, I think we’ll be effective in helping you guys talk some sense into Tyler since we don’t have anything special to fight with,” Brendon replied, and Matt seemed pleased with the plan.

The group then spent an hour going over the finer details before leaving it, deciding it was the best they could do. They then all decided that they should all go out as it was an important night and it should end on a good note for the battle the next day. 

It was going to be an exciting night out.

*  
“Ok, how do I look?” Brendon asked as he stood outside the bar with Ryan.

The night out had ended up simply being at Frank’s establishment, and Brendon and Ryan were late.

Brendon was wearing a black shirt that had a pattern of large white tulips covering it with a black waistcoat and a pair of dark green trouser, a look he rarely wore but liked very much. He also liked it because it matched Ryan’s usual style and although he’d never admit it, he liked being that couple who dressed similarly.

“You look amazing as usual, the real question is, how do I look?” Ryan questioned, a smile on his face as he gestured to his outfit.

Ryan was wearing brown trousers, a white shirt with a matching brown waistcoat and one of his favourite scarves. 

“You look beautiful as per usual,” Brendon said before grabbing Ryan’s hand.

“Shall we?” Brendon asked, gesturing to the door and Ryan simply nodded, the smile still on face.

The two then entered the bar to find many tables pushed together to create one large table with Frank and Gerard sitting at one end together, Billie, Mike and Tré sitting beside Frank down to the side of the table, Matt, Dominic and Chris on Gerard’s side, Pete, Andy and Joe were sat next to the three Englishman, Ray, Spencer and Jon were sat beside the three vampires, and Mikey was sat behind the table on one of the barstools, leaving the other end of the table open for Brendon and Ryan.

“Welcome, it’s about time you showed up,” Frank called once the two had taken their seats and Jon had passed them down two glasses of some kind of beer.

“Sorry, we just got distracted and lost track of time,” Brendon said, despite knowing that that wasn’t the truth.

“Bullshit, you guys were fucking!” Frank exclaimed for the entire neighbourhood to hear.

While Brendon was used to Frank assuming this every time he showed up anywhere late, it was obvious that Ryan was not as he sank slightly down and attempted to hide the red on his face in his scarf. Brendon had to fight back somehow, despite Frank not being wrong for once, and knew just what to say when he glanced at Gerard.

“So what if we were? I bet you and Gerard do it all the time,” Brendon said, taking a sip from his glass.

Brendon watched as Frank went silent and Gerard went red, almost as red as his hair, as Brendon just smiled to himself at his achievement.

“Am I wrong?” Brendon asked, leaning on the table.

“That’s none of your damn business, but yes, you are wrong and now we’re going to change the topic,” Frank said, and Brendon just shook his head.

“Remember not to start something you can’t finish next time.”

Hours passed and while some people, such as Jon, Spencer, Ryan, Andy, Gerard, Ray and Mikey were completely sober, others were not so much. Brendon had lost count of how much he’d drank, but he didn’t really care at the time.

“Ryan, I need to tell you something, it’s really important,” Brendon said as he rested his head on Ryan’s shoulder, staring into the bottom of his empty glass.

“And what is that?” Ryan asked, taking Brendon’s glass out of his hand and placing it down on the table.  
“I love you, but like, really love you,” Brendon replied, lifting his head from Ryan’s shoulder to face him.

“I know you do Bren, we have been dating for two years after all,” Ryan said, and Brendon’s eyes widened at this.

“Really? Wow, I must be way more hammered than I thought.”

“I suggest that you don’t drink anymore or you’re gonna regret it tomorrow,” Ryan said, and while part of Brendon knew that he was right, the other side liked the idea of having another much more.

*  
“Hey Pete, mind if I ask you something?” Gerard asked, standing beside Pete’s chair.

“Sure thing take a seat,” Pete said, and his friendly tone made it so much easier for Gerard.

Gerard had noticed that pretty much everyone on the table was missing, the only people still seated were Pete, Brendon, Ryan, Ray and Andy. Billie, Mike and Tré were up on a makeshift stage singing away to their hearts content with instruments that Gerard had not seen them bring in, Jon and Spencer were talking to each other just by the front doors, Matt, Dominic, Chris and Mikey were sitting at the bar together, Ray and Andy were talking together on the other side of the table, and Joe and Frank were happily watching Billie, Mike and Tré, clearly too drunk to realise how terrible the music was due to the three’s intoxicated states.   
Gerard then went to sit down beside Pete but was quickly blocked by one of Pete’s arms.

“Woah, what’re you doing?” Pete asked, clearly offended by Gerard’s action.

“Um, sitting down?” Gerard replied, not sure as to what he’d done to offend.

“No, you were going to sit in Patrick’s seat,” Pete said as if it were obvious.

Gerard felt a slight pang in his heart for Pete, he couldn’t imagine what he was going through

“Pete, I know you’re going through a lot right now, but I need you to understand that Patrick’s not coming tonight,” Gerard said softly, trying to soften the truth with his gentle tone.

However, Pete did not seem amused by this and simply gestured for Gerard to look at the seat that he was going to sit in. Gerard looked at the seat properly and noticed a picture frame on it and the picture in it was of Patrick, but clearly from a few years ago.

“Patrick’s seat,” Pete stated before turning away from Gerard.

“Right, sorry,” Gerard said before quickly seating himself on the free side of Pete.

“So, you need to ask me something?” Pete asked, his mood reverting back to friendly.

“Um yeah, I need some relationship advice,” Gerard said, hoping that he had made the right decision in who had come to for help.

“I see, well, you’ve come to the right person Gerard, ask away,” Pete said, taking a sip from his glass.

“Ok, so say you’ve only been going out with somebody for a small amount of time but trust them immensely and you want to maybe move a bit further with them, but you don’t know how to show them that without being upfront about it, how would you show them that you’re ready?” Gerard questioned, hoping that Pete was sober enough to understand him.

Gerard then watched as Pete pulled a few different faces before he leant closer and spoke quietly.

“You’re talking about sex, right?” Pete whispered, and Gerard was now regretting his choice.

“Yes,” Gerard replied with a sigh.

“Right, well I’m not an expert on it considering I don’t really do that stuff with Patrick, but I can try my best, so, I think that you need to show Frank that you’re not as closed off and innocent as you let on,” Pete said, but Gerard still wasn’t sure.

“How do I show that?” Gerard asked, not sure as to how one was to display such a thing.

“I dunno, make out with him or something, but be the one to initiate it and then let him take over, he should get the message,” Pete responded, and while Gerard was slightly nervous about doing so, he felt that it was better advice than he was expecting.

“Right, thanks Pete,” Gerard said before standing up and searching for Frank.

*  
“Come on Bren, let’s get you home,” Ryan said, leading the drunken Brendon towards the door.

They had been there for hours and it was just after midnight when Ryan decided that they should leave.

“But I didn’t even get to thank Frank,” Brendon complained, using all his might to resist.

“Frank left like ten minutes ago with Gerard after they started making out, remember?” Ryan said, practically shoving Brendon out of the building.

“Oh yeah…but we didn’t even say goodbye to Jon and Spencer.”

Ryan then led Brendon to the taxi that was awaiting them outside and opened the door before pushing Brendon in and then climbing in after him.

“We did Brendon, you gave them both hugs and told them that they were best friends you’d ever had,” Ryan said, happy that he’d managed to get him this far, it was usually a lot more difficult.

Eventually they made it back to their apartment and Ryan paid the driver before beginning the task of getting Brendon inside without him ending up in the hospital.

He pushed him into the elevator, not liking the idea of the ten flights, and hit the button. Ryan kept a tight hold of Brendon, noticing that Brendon was becoming quieter by the minute, which meant that he was falling asleep, and Ryan was nowhere near strong enough to carry Brendon into their apartment.

Soon they reached their floor and Ryan led Brendon down the corridor to their apartment door and began to fish around in his pockets for the keys. Brendon was becoming heavier by the second, but thankfully he found the keys and managed to open the door without any issues before leading Brendon inside, shutting the door behind them. Ryan then had to move onto the next step, getting Brendon undressed without injuring either of themselves. He took Brendon into the bedroom before standing him in front of the bed and then yanking the covers back for the eventual moment of Brendon collapsing in the bed.

“Ok Bren, I’m gonna need your help here,” Ryan said, hoping that Brendon was still able to comprehend words.

Ryan then unbuttoned Brendon’s waistcoat and slid it off before throwing it on the floor to be washed. He then began unbuttoning the shirt and followed the same process before moving over the top of the bed, searching under Brendon’s pillow for his pyjama shirt. Ryan then managed to yank it over Brendon’s head and got him into with minimal effort, however, the hard part was coming. He need to get the trousers and shoes off.

“Brendon? Can you manage the rest?” Ryan asked, hoping to god that this wouldn’t end with Brendon falling over and hitting his head like it had so many other times.

Brendon simply nodded before sitting down on the edge of the bed and pulling his shoes and socks off. He then managed to pull the trousers off before pulling on the pyjama bottoms on before stumbling over to the top of the bed and collapsing onto it.

Ryan sighed in relief at the sight before changing out of his own clothes and into his own pyjamas and then collapsing in bed beside Brendon, pulling the covers up over the both of them.

“Hey Ry?” Brendon said sleepily.

“Yeah Bren?” Ryan asked, looking at Brendon’s drooping eyes.

“I love you and I know you love me too,” Brendon replied.

“Uh that’s good,” Ryan said, not really sure where this was going.

“I’ve heard people tell me too many times that you don’t just because you don’t show it all that much, but they don’t know you like I do, they don’t see you in the ways that I do, they don’t see just how beautiful and spectacular you are to me,” Brendon said, before shutting his eyes and pulling Ryan close to him.

Hearing that made Ryan feel warm inside and it brought a smile to his face as he wrapped an arm around Brendon’s side. It was these moments that reminded Ryan why he loved Brendon so much.

“Goodnight Ry,” Brendon said before pressing a light kiss to Ryan’s head.

“Goodnight Bren,” Ryan said, closing his eyes.

Ryan didn’t know what the world had in store for them tomorrow, but he prayed to God that if he was out there and still gave a damn, that he had to keep Brendon from harm and to spare him from any more pain, no matter the cost. Even if it came at the cost of something greater than him.


	27. Chapter 27

Brendon’s heart felt as though it would burst out of his chest as he buttoned up the maroon blazer he wore. It was the evening of the battle and Brendon was stood in front of the mirror in the bedroom, he thought that he should put in some effort into his appearance because there was a chance of death and he at least wanted to look good if he was going to die.

“You ok?” Ryan asked, appearing in the bedroom doorway.

Brendon thought about just brushing it off and saying he was fine because at least now Ryan wouldn’t be able to see through it as easily, but he knew that there was no point in lying.

“I’m feeling pretty shit,” Brendon replied, turning to face Ryan as he ran a hand through his hair.

“Understandable, this might be the end of the world we know,” Ryan said as he walked over to Brendon.

“You don’t seem too concerned about that,” Brendon said, wrapping his arms around Ryan’s waist and pulling him close.

“I’ve already died once, a second time won’t be too bad, besides, you never get dressed up like this for me and if it takes the end of the world to make you look this good, then I’m not opposed to it,” Ryan said, wrapping his arms around Brendon’s neck.

Brendon then rested his forehead against Ryan’s, closed his eyes and let out a long sigh of contentment. 

“I don’t want to leave,” Brendon murmured.

He knew that leaving meant that they had to face reality when all Brendon wanted to do was be with Ryan alone, what difference would their presence make in the grand scheme of the fight? They weren’t fighters and they had no gifts, they were simply there because they felt that they should be among their friends if this was their last day together.

“I don’t think any of us want to, but we have to, so let’s just pretend that it’s just another day, that we’re going to definitely come home and that everything’s alright because honestly, the thought of another day with you is keeping me going,” Ryan said quietly before the two shared one last kiss before they had to leave.

The two left the apartment, pretending that it was just another day, before heading out into the cold and making their way to Frank’s bar to meet up with everyone. Everyone was there when Brendon and Ryan arrived, and they apologised for being late, but nobody could blame them. Nobody wanted to be there that morning.

“Are we ready then?” Matt asked after they were all done speaking amongst themselves.

Everybody nodded, but nobody said a word. They were all ready to set off together when they noticed that Mikey’s wife, Kristin, had not left.

“Aren’t you going back home?” Mikey questioned at the sight of Kristin still stood as if waiting to leave with the group.

“No, I’m coming with silly,” Kristin replied, a smile on her face.

“Kristin, you can’t come with,” Mikey said, but this only seemed to confuse Kristin.

“Why not?” She asked as if she wasn’t holding a baby on her hip.

“Because we have a child and I’m not going to risk losing you and leaving our child without a mother,” Mikey said, but Kristin simply shook her head.

“What I do with my life is not up to you Mikey and anyway, I’m bringing Rowan with us, I’m not just going to abandon our daughter like a terrible parent.”

Brendon then watched the two argue for a solid ten minutes before it was apparent that Kristin was getting her way as she began to make her way out of the bar, Rowan still on her hip.

“I guess we follow her then.”

*  
It didn’t take the group long to reach the warehouse and as planned, they all burst in without a thought. 

However, it seemed that they were expected as the moment they ran in, they were greeted with a horde of people and creatures all watching them with fire in their eyes. Brendon and Ryan were handed a gun each since they were unarmed and then they were ready to face it all.

“Alright, stick to the plan and let’s finish this!” Brendon exclaimed as everyone rushed ahead.

Brendon, Ryan and the three Englishman stayed back while the others broke down the outer walls of the crowd’s defence.  
Tyler and his group were on the stage at the back and Brendon could just make out Patrick, but he didn’t look like Patrick anymore. He watched as Tyler’s group all split up and made their way into the crowd, leaving Tyler and Josh left.

“Alright, let’s get moving and talk some sense into that man,” Matt instructed before they all started to walk towards the crowd.

Brendon watched as the three men threw enemy after enemy across the room as if they were flies. He could see Jon and Spencer keeping to the front of the crowd by the door as they fought off as many enemies as possible at once, Brendon could see that Spencer was waiting until it was necessary to use his gift. Brendon then saw Gerard and Frank making a perfect team as they walked through the centre of the crowd, they were perfectly synchronised with each other and while Gerard didn’t know how to use his gifts, he seemed to be handling himself quite well. He also saw Joe, Andy and Ray taking on the back of the crowd with ease. Joe was making use of the metal lying around the old warehouse while Andy seemed to be making good use of his werewolf side as he threw people around like ragdolls, and Ray surprisingly seemed to be predicting people’s moves before they even happened, he must have been training hard. 

However, Brendon saw a problem the moment his eyes landed on Pete, Mikey and Kristin in the far-left corner of the building. Mikey and Kristin were fighting off a few people while Pete worked on the trap, but they didn’t see the threat coming straight for them. Patrick had found them, and he did not look happy.

“Look out!” Brendon yelled as loud as he could, hoping to god that they’d hear him before it was too late.

Fortunately, Kristin had and seemed to point Patrick out to Mikey and Pete, who seemed just as alarmed as Brendon was. Brendon then continued his path with Ryan and the three men until they reached the stage and were face to face with Tyler and Josh.

“I’m glad you could make it tonight gentleman,” Tyler greeted, a smile on his face that sent a shiver through Brendon.

“Tyler, we’re not here to fight you, we just want to help,” Matt said and there was no fear to be seen in him.

“What could you do to possibly help me?” Tyler questioned, seeming to be genuinely curious.

“We could start by helping you find the people who did this to you,” Matt replied, and there was something in Tyler’s eyes that Brendon couldn’t quite make out.

“Really? You’d do that for us?” Tyler asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

“Of course, all you have to do is stop this madness and we can help you, all of us,” Matt said, taking a step forward.

“I don’t know what to say, except that I want to thank you guys,” Tyler said, a kind smile appearing on his face, extending a hand out to Matt, who seemed to gladly accept.

Brendon liked the look of this friendlier Tyler and he looked forward to seeing him become a better person.

“Thank you for this,” Tyler said, and that’s when Brendon saw the smile on Tyler’s face turn sour once more.

Brendon could only watch as Matt let out a scream that was filled with agony as he dropped to his knees. He watched as Dominic and Chris rushed to his side as Tyler released his hand from his own and snapped his fingers. A box of runes then formed around the three.

“I needed your genetic code to create a box to keep you guys in and when you came to me offering worthless promises and took my hand, it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up, so you only have yourselves to blame,” Tyler said, and Brendon couldn’t believe just how powerful he was.

“How could you do that? They came to help you,” Brendon questioned, unable to comprehend how somebody could be that cruel.

“They offered me something worthless, Josh and I had already dealt with those monsters hours ago,” Tyler said, gesturing to the end of the stage where five mutilated bodies lay that had not been there before  
Brendon went to argue but then he noticed something, the bodies had flickered as if they were a hologram of some kind, but it was very brief.

“You’re lying, you’re using your illusions to scare us,” Brendon said, finally seeing where Tyler’s true strength laid.

“Smart man, good eye,” Tyler said before snapping his fingers again and the bodies disappeared.

Brendon then decided to see what else he could find out while he had Tyler’s full attention and his first question came when he looked at Josh after watching the bodies fade away. What if?

“Does your friend speak? I haven’t heard a word from him since we met, is he not allowed to speak?” Brendon questioned, and he noticed a slight falter in Tyler’s smile before it was back to normal.

“Josh can speak, he simply chooses not to,” Tyler replied, and Brendon suddenly felt like he had the upper hand.

“I want to hear him talk, otherwise I’m going to assume that he is here against his will,” Brendon said, and something just clicked in Brendon and he knew that he could win if he was right.

“How do you come to that conclusion?”

“I’m a detective, I’ve seen it all before, so he better start talking.”

“This is ridiculous, Josh and I are nothing without each other, so enough questioning, let’s play a game,” Tyler said before holding his palm out as black and red smoke began to appear in his hand.

“Let’s play a game of who will be the first to die, yourself or the one you love?” 

“You need to stop this before we stop you,” Brendon threatened, never feeling as confident as he had then, Brendon was breaking him, and he just hoped to god that he was right about Josh.

“What can you do? I am a master of deception and illusions; how can you be sure that your victory will even be real? I could snap my fingers and you would only see the red of your friends, I have no limits and I certainly don’t have weaknesses, so tell me Brendon, what can you do?” 

“I can kill him, I can kill the one you love instead,” Brendon said, holding his gun up and pointing it at Josh.

If Brendon was right, the threat should work, and Tyler should back down and then he’d be exposed for a moment as he would have to figure out how to work around it.

“You think that you can simply kill him with a gun when we are much higher than you?” Tyler said, and Brendon shrugged.

“Well maybe I can’t kill him physically because that’s impossible, but I can kill your everything,” Brendon responded, and the look of distress on Tyler’s face told him that he had won.

Brendon looked at Ryan, who seemed to have caught on, as he watched him raise his own gun.

“Stop, Josh is everything to me, he’s my other half, my past, my present, my future, my-” Tyler said desperately, but he was cut off once Brendon had pulled the trigger and the bullet went straight through Josh and hit the wall.

There was no cry or scream or blood, there was only silence.

There was only a look of fear in Tyler’s eyes as Josh remained unharmed, but he wore an expression of concern for Tyler.

“He’s your illusion.”


	28. Chapter 28

_The sun was casting a soft orange glow on the hilltop and the grass swayed gently in the warm breeze, along with the singular tree, which stood proudly on the edge of the city. It was a perfect summers evening and it felt very surreal to the two boys as they laid under the great tree, which had offered them company and shelter for many years._

_“It’s views like this that make you want to freeze time, so you can stay in that beautiful moment forever,” One said as he watched the coloured clouds drift past above his head._

_“You say that every time we come here,” The other said, turning his head to look at his everything._

_“Because it’s true.”_

_The boy rarely noticed the way the other looked at him, but it was ok, he knew how he felt and that was enough. In fact, he spent the most time out of the two staring at the other because he loved the cherry blossom colour that was the other’s hair. He could stare at it for hours and compare it to many beautiful things in the world, but not that night, his eyes were focused on the sky and the clouds, which meant that it was up to the other to do the staring that was filled with awe and passion._

_“Do you think that we could live here one day?” The boy who stared at the sky in wonder asked._

_“I don’t see why not, but how would we do that without ruining it?” The other replied, not taking his eyes off of the curious boy._

_“I don’t know but I don’t want to live anywhere else, in fact, I’d settle for just living at the bottom of the hill in a small house so that I can come up here every day and night and stare at this beautiful scene with you by my side until the day we pass on.”_

_“Then that’s what we’ll do, the moment we have the opportunity.”_

_The cherry blossomed haired boy watched the smile appear on his one and only’s lips, a sight that could cure any amount of despair._

_“It’s a plan then, we’ll escape from that city and all the despairing people in it,” The boy said, the smile on his face growing wider the more he thought about the future._

_The boy then tore his eyes away from the sky and looked at the other that was staring at him with only hope and love in his eyes. He felt among the grass until his hand found the other’s hand and grasped it in his own._

_“Promise me that we’ll do this no matter what happens,” The boy said, staring into the eyes of the other, just admiring the way they spoke far more words than what his mouth could._

_“I promise.”_

_The promise was made as the sun disappeared behind the mountains in the distance and it meant the world to the two boys. It was as if the sun was taking their promise and was hiding it from the night and the terrors that lurked. It protected them from the evil that threatened to take it all away from them._

_The two then rushed down the hill as the night took hold of the city, their hands still grasping one another’s. They raced down it as the breeze rushed past them and they had never felt so free. This was what it felt like to see the world through their eyes, nothing held them back, they took a thought and ran with it until it was a reality. They ran through the empty city streets, dancing in between the small patches of light from the streetlights that towered above them like man made trees. They did not care of the strange looks they got from the odd stranger passing by because they were too busy dancing to the sound of their dreams as the stars shone down through the haze of the reality of the city. The two jumped and spun around and maneuvered their bodies and feet around the city streets and over every crack in the concrete._

_Once they had reached the home of the cherry blossomed boy, they shared a quiet embrace and stole a kiss in the dark before the dark-haired boy found that something was being pressed into his palm by the other.  
He looked down at his palm and saw the most beautiful lotus flower there. It was pearly white with the edges tinted in a pink that was almost identical to the other’s hair. The reason for the gift was unknown but appreciated greatly._

_“What’s this for?” The boy questioned, but he wore a smile on his face as he asked._

_“A reminder, in case you ever feel alone or lost, and you can just look at it and remember that I’m never far away,” The other replied as he slowly stepped inside his home, making sure not to awake his sleeping parents._

_“Thank you, I will keep this until the day it dies.”  
The two then said their goodbyes before the boy had to leave for his own home. He made his way back that night under the watchful stars, which he had always believed to be angels, and he danced all the way home, the pink haired boy never leaving his mind._

_Their promise was in the safe hands of the sun and he had the angels to watch over it in the night and he couldn’t wait for the day that they could fulfill it together._

__*  
“Where the hell are those guys? I thought they were supposed to take care of him?” Mikey asked as the three watched Patrick draw nearer._ _

__Pete was trying his hardest to focus on the trap but knowing that his everything was so close distracted him greatly._ _

__“I don’t know, I lost sight of them once we got in,” Pete replied as he turned his hand as if cracking open a safe, causing the next layer of the lock to break._ _

__“I hope they’re here soon, I don’t want to have to kill him,” Mikey said, and this caused Pete to stop and turn._ _

__“You’re not killing him Mikey, no matter what happens,” Pete stated, but Mikey didn’t seem to understand._ _

__“How do we even know he’s still Patrick? What if he’s gone?” Mikey questioned, but Pete just shook his head._ _

__“He’s not, I know he’s still in there, he has to be,” Pete argued, watching as Patrick approached fast._ _

__Pete looked at the man and at the bright yellow eyes and the blood that covered him from head to toe. He looked at Patrick and knew that there was still hope because he knew Patrick better than anybody else in the world and he knew that Patrick was still in there and was fighting._ _

__“I’m going to stop him,” Pete stated, ignoring Mikey and Kristin’s warnings as he started walking towards Patrick._ _

__Pete walked slowly as Patrick marched towards him. He wasn’t scared, it was Patrick after all, and Patrick wouldn’t hurt him._ _

__“Patrick, it’s me, you don’t have to do this,” Pete said, and the two were face to face now._ _

__Patrick was breathing heavily, and his fists were clenched, but Pete remained calm as he stared into the amber eyes that burned bright with anger._ _

__“I know you don’t want this, you’re just scared of what you can do,” Pete continued, and he watched Patrick look him up and down as if he were trying to examine him._ _

__“Patrick, I love you and I don’t want you to regret anything.”_ _

__Pete could see that his calm tone was helping as he saw that Patrick’s eyes seemed to be much calmer and his fists were unclenched._ _

__“It’s ok, I can help you, you don’t have to be scared,” Pete said, holding out his hand._ _

__He watched as Patrick’s hand slowly moved towards his own and was only moments away from taking it, but the sound of a gunshot stopped him in his tracks._ _

__“Hey fuckface, come pick on somebody else!” Pete heard Billie yell from behind, he had shot at Patrick’s feet._ _

__“Billie stop, I can handle this!” Pete called, but Billie didn’t seem to hear, or he didn’t care._ _

__Pete watched as Patrick’s eyes filled with fire as he spun around to face Billie, Mike and Tré._ _

__“Ready guys?” Billie asked, earning him a nod from the other two men._ _

__This was going to end terribly, Pete could feel it._ _

__*  
Brendon wasn’t entirely sure what would happen after he had pulled the trigger, but he wasn’t expecting there to be silence. Tyler was frozen and seemed to be blank on the outside, but Brendon could see the inner turmoil in his eyes._ _

__“Tyler, it’s over,” Brendon said, moving forward with Ryan by his side._ _

__However, Brendon was surprised when he saw a smile reappear on Tyler’s face before he began to laugh. It was a cold and harsh laugh that brought an unsettling feeling upon Brendon and he could see that Ryan was experiencing the same thing._ _

__“Why is it over? All you did was bring reality down on me, why does that change everything?” Tyler asked, his laughter only ceasing once he had finished his sentence._ _

__Brendon had noticed that Josh was now no longer with them and it felt strange to him that he had been seeing an illusion this whole time._ _

__“Because you obviously need help and you don’t even seem stable enough to carry out your original plan,” Brendon replied, but Tyler simply turned from him._ _

__“Tell me Brendon, if you and Ryan went through the same experiments as I had, and you were certain that one day it would be over and that you would escape, how would you react if you found that Ryan had been killed, murdered in cold blood because he wasn’t adequate?” Tyler questioned, not turning back to face the two._ _

__Brendon remained silent as he felt that Tyler was not finished and was going to reveal something very crucial to them._ _

__“We were there for two years and every day he came into the cell that they kept us in and he says to me ‘Tyler, I know we weren’t so lucky today, but I have a feeling that tomorrow will be the day’ and he said that for two years straight and I believed him every time because there was so much hope in his voice, but then one day, he didn’t come back,” Tyler said before turning back to face the two and Brendon saw that he was holding what seemed to be a lotus flower, but it was withered._ _

__“I waited a whole week, I told myself they had simply moved him for a while, I was alone for a whole week, but then on the eighth day, a man enters our cell and tells me to follow him, and I did, I followed him into an empty and cold room, and in this room the man tells me that the organism they’re trying to inject into somebody had taken a liking to Josh, I got scared,” Tyler continued, and Brendon saw tears beginning to appear in his eyes as he stared at the lotus flower._ _

__“He tells me that they tried to put it in Josh, but something went wrong, Josh wasn’t strong enough-wait, no, Josh wasn’t broken enough, yes, that was what he told me, and apparently this organism wanted the broken and withered because that made for an easy target, but because Josh fought back, it killed him, it killed my Josh, the cherry blossomed haired boy that I had loved, it killed my everything,” Tyler explained as the tears rolled down his face._ _

__“So while I was on my knees as I cried and cursed God for everything he had done to us, the man excused himself before leaving and then returning with two other men, who carried a body, they had brought me the body of my dead love… I screamed, I screamed and screamed as I tried to convince myself it wasn’t true, and that’s when they did it, they jammed the needle into my neck and that thing got inside of me but I didn’t fight back, how could I?”_ _

__“Then I went back to my cell and I learned, I learned how to make things and I made him again, it was almost like nothing had ever happened, but then you arrived Brendon and you freed me and reminded me that I was truly alone, I had to go outside and face reality and I hate you for that, why couldn’t you have just left me to rot away? You did this!” Tyler exclaimed, and Brendon was speechless._ _

__Had he really saved all of those people, or had he unleashed an army of the broken into a world that they didn’t even want to be a part of?_ _

__“And now I say it’s time to end this,” Tyler said, dropping the dead flower onto the hard floor._ _

__What had he done?_ _


	29. Chapter 29

Pete didn’t know whether to cry or scream as he watched Billie, Mike and Tré take turns throwing some very painful blows on Patrick, who couldn’t keep up due to the three’s supernatural speed. 

“Hasn’t he been through enough?!” Pete called out.

“He’s still standing Pete, so that still makes him a threat,” Billie replied as he threw another punch into Patrick’s gut.

“I’m not watching this,” Pete said before stepping forward to put a stop to the cruelty, but he was stopped by somebody grabbing him from behind.

“Pete don’t get yourself involved,” Pete heard Mikey say from behind him.

“Don’t get myself involved? He’s my fucking boyfriend, I’m already involved!” Pete exclaimed, struggling to free himself because Mikey was a lot stronger than he looked or Pete was weaker than he thought.

“Once he’s down we can help him,” Mikey said, his voice still perfectly steady.

“I almost had him before, it doesn’t have to be this way,” Pete argued, but Mikey didn’t seem like he was going to be swayed in any way.

Pete could only watch as the three vampires laid blow after blow on Patrick’s body and soon he felt tears spilling down his face. He was powerless unless he fought his way out, but he didn’t want anybody else to get hurt.

“I know this is hard for you Pete, it’s hard for me too, but this is what’s best for Patrick,” Mikey said, and then for the first time in years, Pete got truly angry at Mikey Way.

“You’re a fucking liar Mikey, you never liked Patrick!” Pete exclaimed, and he felt Mikey freeze for a moment.

“From the first moment you met him, you hated him because you were worried that he was going to be a threat to what we had,” Pete continued, letting out all the frustration in him.

“I’m sorry that I fell for Patrick, I’m sorry that I felt more connected to him and I’m sorry that I left you for him, but that is not Patrick’s fault, I made the call to leave when I could’ve just turned Patrick away, so stop being an ass and let me help my boyfriend!” Pete yelled, and he felt Mikey’s grip loosen.

Pete then wrenched himself free before once again moving forward to stop Billie from landing the next punch, but this time he stopped himself at the sight. Billie had gone to throw another punch and was moments away from landing a perfect hit in Patrick’s face, but that didn’t happen. Patrick had grabbed Billie’s fist mid throw.

“What the fuck?” Billie said, his voice barely audible and Pete could hear the fear.

Pete then watched as Patrick wrenched Billie’s arm behind his back and twisted it in an unnatural way, and there was a sound that Pete wished he could forget before Billie screamed out in pain.

“Holy shit!” Tré exclaimed before Mike and himself went to help Billie.

However, Patrick simply kicked Billie down before spinning around grabbing the two by the front of their shirts and throwing them across the floor towards Pete’s direction. Patrick then walked over to the two before stamping on each of their chests in turn before picking Tré up by the shirt again. Pete then watched him throw a few punches, each landing perfectly on their mark before he threw Tré across the building with minimal effort before turning to Mike. Pete could see that there was only rage and murder in his bright yellow eyes that were brighter than he had ever seen them before. He had to do something fast.

“Stop!” Pete exclaimed before rushing forward and stepping in front of Mike.

“This isn’t you Patrick,” Pete said, hoping that it wasn’t too late.

Pete thought for a moment that Patrick would remember all the things he had said before the three vampires appeared, but Patrick was staring at Mikey, and Pete saw what seemed to be fear in Patrick’s eyes.

“Patrick, it’s ok, he’s not a threat, I won’t let him near you,” Pete said reassuringly before taking a step closer to Patrick.

“I know you probably hate yourself so much and don’t know what else to do except fight, but it doesn’t have to be that way, I can help you.”

“These people, they don’t know you Patrick, they don’t know about the things you do on a regular day, they only see a monster when you are so much more than that, they haven’t seen you in the morning when your hairs a mess and you can’t find your glasses, they haven’t seen you when you sing like a thousand angels, they haven’t seen you when you laugh like there’s not a thing to be sad about and they haven’t seen you when you’re down and need a shoulder to cry on when you open up your heart, they don’t know a single thing about you and all that you have been and can be,” Pete said, offering his hand out for the second time that day.

“They don’t know just how much we love each other,” Pete said, his voice gentle and sincere.

Pete then watched as the yellow in Patrick’s eyes slowly faded away and tears began to fall down his face as he reached out and took Pete’s hand.

“You’re beautiful Patrick, and I wouldn’t trade you for the universe.”

Pete then pulled Patrick into a tight embrace as the two sobbed into each other’s necks before sharing a long-awaited kiss.

“What did I do to deserve you Pete Wentz?” Patrick asked as he pulled away enough to see Pete’s face.

“I wanted to know how I got you, but I guess we’ll never know,” Pete replied, a grin on his face.

The two then spent a moment just staring into each other’s eyes, smiles on their face until there was an abrupt cough.

“This is really sweet, but you still have traps to disable,” Mikey said, and Pete just rolled his eyes before pulling away completely from Patrick.

“It’s nice to see that you haven’t changed a bit Mikey,” Patrick said, following Pete as he made his way back over to the trap.

*  
It was a strange feeling for Tyler to be on top of the hill, which held so many memories, with Brendon and not Josh. Of course, they weren’t really there, Tyler had simply transformed his environment to suit how he felt the end for Brendon should be. On the hill where his own life was supposed to begin.

“Where are we? Or should I ask, where aren’t we?” Brendon questioned, taking in his surroundings.

“The place where Josh and I promised to build our lives before it all went wrong,” Tyler replied before deciding that he should get this over with soon, so he could finish his mission.

“Tyler, before we finish this, I need you to understand that I know what it feels like to lose somebody, but I will never know what it’s like to go so long without them,” Brendon said, but this only made Tyler want to laugh as he watched Brendon turn his back on him.

Brendon was a fool in Tyler’s eyes because he was so blind to the fact that he was not a man that could be convinced through words. Tyler believed in the saying that actions speak louder than words because words could be twisted and forged so easily. A promise is meaningless compared to the fulfilment of doing something through action.

“Of course, you lost your lover but then had him returned to you in a matter of weeks because you’re the hero, aren’t you Brendon?” Tyler said, taking a step towards Brendon as he reached into his jacket pocket to retrieve the knife that he had brought with to end it all.

“If this were a story, then yeah, I guess I am, but this is reality Tyler and the reality of this situation is that we are stood in a warehouse while all my friends and all your people fight for what we believe in because some sick bastards took you and Josh away from your reality and destroyed who you used to be and now you want revenge,” Brendon responded but Tyler could care less about Brendon’s attempts to stop him as he pulled the knife out of the pocket silently.

“And honestly, you have every right to do it,” Brendon continued, causing Tyler to freeze.

“What?” Tyler said, his voice a whisper.

“You have been through so much Tyler and you made a good point saying that we shouldn’t be hiding in our city because we fear the people outside, but murder is not going to change anything, they will only fear us and try to get rid of us which will result in the death of both of our people, so let’s stop this and work together to find peace among our own,” Brendon said before turning to face Tyler.

“You know, I almost expected you to throw anything you could at me, to tell me that it’s wrong and that innocent people will die or that Josh wouldn’t have wanted this, but I guess that would’ve been too easy,” Tyler said before looking down at the knife in his hand and realising what he was about to do to Brendon.

“Will you help me stop this then Tyler? We can stop this, and you can finally find some closure and move on,” Brendon said, but this only brought it all down on Tyler again.

He would be alone again, and he would have to deal with it all again. The feeling of waking up every morning and seeing that Josh wasn’t really there anymore as well as having to deal with the dark nights when the voice in his head whispered the cruellest of words in his ears. If only Brendon had not said another word, then it would’ve worked perfectly for him.

“You almost had me Brendon, but I’m sorry, I can’t do this without Josh,” Tyler said, and the look on Brendon’s face told Tyler that he had no idea of what he was about to do.

“Tyler please, you are more than Josh, you can live for him,” Brendon said, the sound of desperation seeping into his voice.

“But you see, I’m not, we are one, we go where ever the other goes, I’m sorry,” Tyler said before turning his back to Brendon and staring at the tree in front of him.

“This is the end of it all.” Then Tyler plunged the knife into his own stomach.

Whatever Brendon was yelling after that, Tyler didn’t hear as he fell to his hands and knees and began to spew up his own blood. This truly was the only way it could have ended for him and he only wished that he had seen it before he created so much chaos.

Tyler stayed on his hands and knees until he didn’t have the strength to do it anymore and he collapsed onto his stomach, his illusion wearing away as he saw the warehouse returning around himself and Brendon.  
Everything began to darken as he saw people surround his body, most likely Brendon and Ryan and the British men as the spell would’ve worn off by this point.

The last thing Tyler’s living eyes saw was the lotus flower lying beside him before he slipped away into the unknown.

However, this was not the end for him as he soon found himself stood on the hill again, except he was alone.

“An eternity alone on the hill, how ironic,” Tyler said to himself before feeling a presence behind him.

“When we promised to spend our lives together on this hill, I never expected it to be the afterlife,” Tyler heard the familiar say, bringing a smile onto his face.

“I don’t think it’s so bad,” Tyler responded as he turned to face Josh, expecting to see the cherry blossom hair but was met with a bright yellow, almost like a sunflower.

“I missed you,” Josh said, and Tyler only nodded before linking his hands in the others.

“I missed you too.”

An eternity with his sunflower was something that Tyler would not trade for the world or his own life back. It was everything he had always wanted, and it wasn’t an illusion this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case anybody thinks that this is the end, there will be an epilogue, I just have to write it. Hopefully I won't procrastinate too long but it will be done eventually so don't worry! I hope this has been enjoyable for you all!


	30. Epilogue

It was a few days after the fight when all had finally settled down again and Tyler’s followers were put down and began the long process of re-entering society. It had been rather peaceful among the group that stood against them as they settled down into their lives once again.

Frank and Gerard were happily living and working together and couldn’t have asked for anything more. Gerard had even become good friends with Ray and enjoyed hearing about the man’s life stories, stories about the things that he and Frank used to get up to. It was simply the perfect life that Gerard had always craved.

Patrick and Pete went home and did everything they could together without the fear of losing one other again. They still had to work out just what was inside of Patrick but that was a problem for another day as Pete spent those few days debating just how to propose to Patrick as he’d had the ring for well over a year by this point and figured it was time to final ask the question.

Mikey and Kristin spent the rest of the remaining week together before Mikey returned to Heaven with the goal of returning to the Earth permanently.

Billie, Mike and Tré went on with their lives after rekindling their friendship with Frank. They threw out all of their break up food and even cleaned their apartment, which only returned to it’s chaotic state the next day. The fight with Tyler hadn’t really meant anything to them due to them having no real connections to anybody. Life went on.

That simply left Jon and Spencer, who had returned back their everyday lives. They decided that they still wanted to help people despite Ryan’s decision to find a new path and so, remained detectives. Things were going really well for the two and that was why Jon knew that he had to come clean to Spencer as soon as possible.

It was evening when Jon found himself stood on the balcony of their apartment with Matt, who had stopped by to say goodbye before he moved onto his next job.

“So, what do you plan on doing now?” Matt questioned as they stood watching the city below them.

“I’m going to come clean to Spencer and fix everything because too many people have suffered because I couldn’t take responsibility for what I had created,” Jon replied, and Matt seemed rather surprised by his response.

“Really? I never thought you’d actually want to tell anyone.”

“Yeah, well I think it’s kind of important that I tell Spencer that he’s dating God before I go out there and sort out the mess up there,” Jon explained, and Matt simply nodded.

“Well, I wish you the best of luck my friend and hope we see each other again, but on better terms of course,” Matt then said before patting Jon on the back lightly and leaving without another word.

Jon took one last look at the streets below him before entering the apartment again and making his way towards the sofa where Spencer was sat with the cat.

“Hey Spencer, can we talk?” 

*  
The wind was blowing against Brendon was he stood on top of the very hill where it had all ended tragically for Tyler. He’d brought his body up to the top the day after the fight and had buried him under the tree. Brendon hadn’t been to a funeral since he was a child so he didn’t really know how they worked but he did the best he could for Tyler considering he’d owed him that much after all he’d been through. So, he built a cross out of some wood, carved his name into it and put it in the ground above his body. 

It was quiet out that evening as he stood staring at the grave before him with some yellow daisies in his hand. He was waiting for Ryan to bring something important but he’d made sure to arrive early enough to give himself time to say a few words.

“I know I didn’t know you all that well or for that long Tyler, I mean, all of our encounters were you trying to kill me and my friends, but I just wanted to say that I’m sorry,” Brendon began as he got onto his knees.

“I’m sorry that you suffered through so much and lost everything, I’ll never know the pain you had inside of you and I just wish that I could’ve known you before this all happened because then maybe, just maybe, something different would’ve happened and you’d still be alive with your one love.”

“I also feel kinda selfish, I mean, I lost Ryan just to have him back in a ridiculous amount of time, and then I go through the biggest fight of my whole life and I lose nobody but you lost your life and all that you were fighting for, and for that, I’m so god damn sorry, it’s not fair,” Brendon continued but just as he finished saying this, a gust of wind hit the back of Brendon and a hand touched his shoulder.

He was quick to turn around as he stood up but there was nobody there. For a moment he considered that perhaps it was Tyler but if it were him, what was he trying to say?  
However, it was then that Ryan appeared with the wooden cross in his arms and a look of exhaustion on his face.

“When we die, we are not getting buried on a hill or anywhere high up, ok? I’m not putting anybody through this,” Ryan said as he stood in front of Brendon before taking a moment to catch his breath.

“Well there goes my plan to get buried on Everest,” Brendon responded jokingly before he laughed as Ryan’s face dropped.

“I hate you sometimes,” Ryan said, though there was a smile on his face as he spoke.

“Sure you do, now let’s get this in the ground and give them some peace.”

Ryan then got to work and put the identical wooden cross into the ground beside Tyler’s before taking a step back. It was a gravestone for Josh because while they couldn’t find a body, it felt wrong to leave Tyler alone.

“You feel guilty, don’t you?” Ryan said, and Brendon found himself speechless for a moment despite knowing just how well Ryan knew him.

“I do, I feel selfish and guilty that he lost everything while I still have it all,” Brendon explained, and once again, there was a rather fierce gust of wind.

“Looks like Tyler doesn’t agree, and he’s right, you tried so hard to stop him and you did, even if it wasn’t the way you wanted it, what Tyler did was his own choice and I’m sure he’s watching you right now with Josh right by his side,” Ryan responded, and Brendon was silent for a moment as he felt tears welling up in his eyes.

“I just don’t understand, why was I so lucky?” Brendon questioned, struggling to keep the tears in.

“I don’t know, I wish I could tell you but sometimes, that’s just how life is, it takes everything from one person while another flourishes,” Ryan replied, and he knew that he was right, life really didn’t give a crap about you or just how good you were.

“But here’s one thing I’ve learned, just because life is out to get you, doesn’t mean that you’re not allowed to fight back and tell it no, so push back until it learns that you are never going to give in, so that’s what you’ve gotta do Bren, keep fighting and keep giving it all that you’ve got, do it for Tyler and Josh and all the people like them, who were robbed of the life they were owed,” Ryan then said, and while this caused the tears to fall down Brendon’s face, he wore a smile while they do so before he nodded firmly in response.

“You’re right, I’m gonna go out there and make things right for people, even if it takes my whole life because I know I’m doing something for those who can’t fight back.”

Brendon then knelt down once again before carefully laying the bouquet of daisies in between the two crosses. He then stood up and he joined hands with Ryan.

“Tyler, Josh, I don’t know where you are but I hope you’re together and happy because you deserve nothing less, so before I go, I just wanted to say that I’m going to make sure you didn’t die for an empty cause, I promise you I’ll fix this mess, so just rest easy and I’ll see you around someday,” Brendon then said before finally feeling a weight come off his shoulders.

Brendon and Ryan left the hill and returned home before taking a much deserved rest.

Everything was going to fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok! It's over for real now and I really hope you enjoyed it! I'm also incredibly sorry for taking so long to upload this, I've just been busy and procrastinating too much but I hope it's an ok ending and everything is tied off nicely.
> 
> So, thank you again and farewell.


End file.
